CUBE, whose full name is Creative Usage of Bricks & Earth, is a house in Mao Khe, Vietnam, designed by H&P Architects.
At first glance, it looks like a closed cube of earth and brick.
But it was not designed to block the world.
It was designed to breathe.
Set between a new urban expansion and old agricultural fields, the house transforms brick and earth into more than materials. Brick becomes a breathable skin. Earth becomes garden. Courtyards become breathing spaces.
The perforated brick facade lets air pass through, breaks the sunlight, creates shade, protects privacy, and slows down the heat before it reaches the interior. Behind it, air gaps, sliding doors, plants, balconies, and courtyards create a sequence of layers between the city and domestic life.
Inside, CUBE works like a small vertical village. Courtyards appear on different levels, connecting common areas, private rooms, balconies, gardens, and moments of daily life. The roof becomes a place for service, outdoor dining, and mobile gardens, where cultivation still finds space inside a compact urban home.
CUBE shows that density does not have to mean disconnection from nature.
Sometimes, the answer is a more porous architecture: brick as skin, earth as garden, courtyard as breathing space, and a house that turns an urban cube into a cooler, slower, more alive place.
Architects: H&P Architects
Location: Mao Khe, Vietnam
Area: 270 m²
Year: 2024
Photographs: Le Minh Hoang
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