The aim of the "House for Trees" project is to return green space to Ho Chi Minh City, VietNam, accommodating high-density dwelling with big tropical trees. The project architects are Vo Trong Nghia, Masaaki Iwamoto
and Kosuke Nishijima.
Photo: Hiroyuki Oki

Green roofs typically have plantings of sedums and grasses, but why not trees?

Vo Trong Nghia Architects (votrongnghia.com) built "House for Trees" to draw attention to urban pollution, lack of greenery and endangered city trees in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Five concrete residential buildings were designed as "pots" to plant large tropical trees on their roofs. The thick soil layers of these "pots" also function as stormwater basins for detention and retention. The architects report these are the first buildings in Vietnam constructed out of bamboo formwork plywood, i.e., bamboo veneers glued together under high temperature and pressure. Each concrete ???pot' had a build budget of $155,000.

"House for Trees" garnered the outstanding architectural project at the 5th AR House Awards, presented at the Waldorf Hilton in London, June 18, 2014. AR House Awards is an international award of The Architectural Review, an English publication.

Vo Trong Nghia Architects has offices in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi. The firm reports urban encroachment in Ho Chi Minh City is growing at a 3.4 percent rate a year, not a rate significant to megacities in China, but "especially discordant for a city built in the middle of a rain forest."

1. "Advice from a Tree," by Ilan Shamir. The last stanza reads:

"Simple pleasures
Earth, fresh air, light
Be content with your natural beauty
Drink plenty of water
Let your limbs sway and dance in the breezes
Be flexible
Remember your roots
Enjoy the view!"