Stacking Green, is a house originally designed for a thirty-years-old couple and their mother, located in Saigon, Vietnam. The concept for this project stems from the very essence of the chaotic highly populated city in which the building is constructed. Here it can be seen that the Saigonese love their life with a large variety of tropical plants and flowers, placing them in their balconies, courtyards, and streets. Stacking Green goes on to re-define and re-increase the greenery as the character of this city, using its full variety of surrounding greenery as a context for Saigon.
Courtesy of Vo Trong Nghia + Daisuke Sanuki + Shunri Nishizawa
The house itself is a typical tube house constructed on a plot 4 meters wide by 20 meters deep. The front and back façades are entirely composed of layers of concrete planters cantilevered from two side walls. The varying heights of the plants, which vary from 25cm to 40cm, defined the distance between the planters and the height of the planters as well, creating a balance between greenery and concrete where one doesn’t over power the other. Inside the planters automatic irrigation pipes are installed to allow for easy maintenance of the plants and to supply them with water.
Courtesy of Vo Trong Nghia + Daisuke Sanuki + Shunri Nishizawa
The RC frame structure widely used in Vietnam was adapted in this design. By having very few partition walls it allowed the interior to keep its fluency and provide constant views to the green façades. Varying light is cast through the building depending upon the time of day from the top-light in the center of the structure as well as through the amount of leaves on both façades. With light coming in through the leaves on the exterior, beautiful shadows are formed on the granite interior walls made strictly of stacked 2cm stones.
Courtesy of Vo Trong Nghia + Daisuke Sanuki + Shunri Nishizawa
The green façade and roof top garden protect its inhabitants from direct sunlight, street noise, and pollution. The natural ventilation produced helps to save the residence energy and therefore money as well in the harsh climate of Saigon. With concerns for ecological approaches to the design, the bioclimatic principles of the traditional Vietnamese courtyard house were studied. Over all Stacking Green is a great example of how simplicity and minimalism can create great architecture, coupled with the understanding and history of the site in which it is built, that it is no wonder why it was the 2012 winner for Building Of The Year.
Kristin Hoover is an editor at Arch2O and a proud graduate of Virginia Tech. Since joining in July 2014, she has authored over 200 insightful articles covering everything from adaptive reuse and cultural centers to eco-buildings and urban infrastructure . With a passion for architectural storytelling, Kristin skillfully curates and crafts compelling narratives that bring design innovation to life. Her editorial work reflects a broad yet finely honed interest in how architecture intersects with society, technology, and the environment—making her a key voice shaping Arch2O’s explorations of contemporary built form.