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Mountain House

Modular country housing among mountains and water
Architect Aleksei Ivanov
Status
Settlement concept
Years
2010-2026
Prototype
Private house of profiled timber · working documentation 2010 · built
Address
Ninh Binh Province, Vietnam
Programme
Modular country housing
Authorship
Aleksei Ivanov
Brief

A country settlement among limestone mountains and water. The houses are small and have to fit the terrain rather than compete with it.

Solution

Houses of up to 110 m² are grouped into modules around shared pedestrian spaces. Each house is rotated on its own axis, and together they form a dynamic, ever-changing silhouette that echoes the outline of the surrounding peaks. A ring road and a cycle path run around the settlement, and yacht moorings are provided along the water.

Materials and setting

Wood and brick. Warm, tactile architecture that becomes part of the landscape, with houses conceived as places where you want to slow down.

IdeaThe house as part of the landscape

An architectural symbiosis with nature

The silhouettes of the houses follow the sculptural outline of the Ninh Binh ridges. Asymmetric volumes, sloping roof planes and stepped transitions visually "grow" into the landscape and blur the line between the man-made and the natural.

Timber facades emphasise the folds of the roof. Over time the wood acquires a noble patina, and together with brick it creates a warm, tactile connection with the surroundings.

The "mountain" houses are conceived as meditative spaces where the rhythm of life slows down. Architecture here is not just a functional object but a continuation of the landscape, in which people become part of the ecosystem rather than observers of it.

From working drawings to conceptPrototype: a built private house

Mountain House grew out of a private house that I designed in full, from floor plans to the working documentation it was built from. It is not a set of visualisations but a project with every section needed for construction, including floor plans, floor framing layouts and a rafter system with schedules and details.

In Mountain House the rotated volumes became the principle of the settlement, with each house turned relative to its neighbours. Experience with working documentation means the concept was designed from the start to be buildable.

Working drawing: ground floor masonry plan at level 0.000 with corner joint details
Masonry plan, ground floor, sheet 7
Working drawing: first floor plan at level 2.950 with wall structure details
First floor plan, sheet 10
Working documentation sheet: floor framing layout with schedule
Floor framing layout and schedule
Working documentation sheet: rafter plan, beam schedule and detail
Rafter plan, schedule and detail
Axonometric views of the rafter system from two sides
Axonometric view of the rafter system

Settlement master planModules around public spaces

The houses are grouped into modules around pedestrian public spaces. A ring road links the modules for cars and bicycles, and piers for mooring yachts line the shore.

Mountain House settlement master plan: house modules, public spaces and piers
Settlement master plan and unfolded elevations

Project materials3 images

Timber house with a folded roof at sunset
Housing module by the ring road
The house under construction: timber frame
The prototype under construction
The settlement among the mountains
The settlement by the water against karst mountains

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