Cubes made from white-painted reinforcing rods form frameworks that support staircases and climbing plants at this renovated house in Ho Chi Minh City.
Lee & Tee House was designed by local studio Block Architects for a young couple who run a business producing handcrafted leather products in the Tan Binh District in the Vietnamese city.
The owners wanted to renovate an existing property on a street lined with multi-storey terraced buildings to create a new home and workspace.

The narrow plan of the existing property informed the internal arrangement of spaces, which extend between a courtyard garden at the front and a small atrium to the rear.
Original features and materials including the exposed brick walls were retained, with new additions including the painted steel frames introduced to provide a consistent element throughout. "The house appears as if it were 'sewed' with thin, white, pure thread," said the studio, which has previously completed a guest house and kitchen in the city featuring colourful painted window shutters.

"Unnecessary walls and floors were removed to make space, exposing a large structure which was 'sewed' on walls alongside big frames at the front and the back of the house," it added.
The frames are made from welded steel bars more typically used for reinforcing structures when pouring concrete. Painted white and arranged in a geometric pattern, the bars form a visually lightweight and permeable structure.
"Altho...