This concrete house is growing a mini forest inside its walls

File this under: Striking concrete homes that make cool giant planters. Designed by Vo Trong Nghia Architects, veterans of lush concrete architecture, this striking residence in Ha Long, Vietnam, has trees spilling out of its windows and balconies.

The house is built as a pentagon within a pentagon. The faceted concrete facade encases an interior pentagon, and the semi-exterior space in between allows plants to grow. This buffer space is as much about the garden as it is about climate control; shadows and extra cladding protect the interior from Vietnam’s tropical climate.

Hiroyuki Oki

Inside the buffer zone, a stairway leads from one balcony with trees to another. Because the trees fill every level of the house, the rooms, decked out in wood and concrete, all look out to the immediate greenery growing just outside the windows.

“The main concept of the house is to create space where people can live in a forest,” writes the firm. Fair enough, and we eagerly await to see where the concrete jungle aesthetic goes next.

Hiroyuki Oki

Hiroyuki Oki

Hiroyuki Oki

Hiroyuki Oki