I have been thinking about my house for a very long time, since I was a teenage boy. Every day, when herding cows through fields, sneaking into the bamboo groves, and wandering around the village, .. In my imagination, sometimes my house was the bird nest in the tree and other times it was just a thatched hut or an old house next to a stream in the forest.
I feel like I am a very complicated man…
I am a fan of "The Adventure of the Cricket" by writer To Hoai in Vietnam, so I named my son "cricket", with the hope that he will be an independent man. With a free and open-minded, he will travel everywhere, enjoy the sun and the dew, and sing loudly under the sky...experience as many difficult things as possible.
From a small plot of land surrounded by old walls, I built my own house - "the cricket's house" - named after my son, by using recycled material: wood, steel, and used bricks.
Of course, a structure is too small do not express everything, and it certainly cannot tell a grand story. "The cricket's house" is a place I dedicate to my wife and son. A space for experiences, where my son can play inside the house or in the courtyard, plant vegetables, climb onto the roof lying on the grass, look up at the moon and stars, and dream whatever he likes...a completely open space.
This project has given to me a lot of experience. I think a house does not need to have too many partitions, but it should connect as many spaces as possible, with fresh air outside. There is no need to be made of solid concrete. Old things like wood from old houses, stone bricks, used pallet wood, … can still be used to create a two/three-story house.
Really grateful to all of my counterparts, who directly participated in building this house. And big thank to my wife, my son, who are my endless inspiration, helping me to write a very small story "The Cricket's House," a very simple, peaceful and simple place to stay.
Team:
Architect: Countryhouse Architecture
Laed Architect: Ngô Lê Nguyễn
Partner: Đặng Nghĩa
Photo credits: Quang Dam
Material Used:
Projects using local materials:
1. Brick
2. Raw concrete
3. Used wood
4. Used steel
5. Grass roof
