Architecture practice Live Out Studio has unveiled Terracotta Breath, a multigenerational residence in Da Nang, Vietnam, defined by perforated brick façades, planted courtyards, and a cohesive clay-toned material palette. Designed as a “home that breathes,” the project prioritises light, air, and natural ventilation across two conjoined residences for parents and their daughter.
Design Intent and Material Language
The home takes its name from its dominant terracotta hues—seen in the perforated brick exterior, clay-rendered walls, terracotta tiles, and earthy interior finishes. Co-founder Van Tan Quyen Le described the objective as creating a structure that “breathes softly and continuously,” using local materials to generate warmth and permeability.
The cohesive palette includes handcrafted brick façades, clay-toned corrugated roofing, bamboo shading, and brick garden paving, enabling the building to settle organically into its surroundings, almost as if “grown from the ground itself.”
Architectural Layout and Spatial Organisation
Designed on a narrow urban plot, Terracotta Breath houses two independent living units separated by a slim courtyard providing daylight and passive cooling. Each home follows its own functional and feng shui requirements, arranged around two staircases—one crafted from timber and clay plaster at the front, and another in folded painted steel at the rear.
The parents’ home opens to a shaded entrance yard with a bamboo canopy, while the daughter’s residence faces the central courtyard through timber-framed folding windows.
Ventilation Strategy and Perforated Brick Façade
A defining feature is the double-skin perforated brick façade that fronts the ceremonial hall on the parents’ first floor. The façade incorporates a small intermediary balcony that tempers airflow while allowing shifting patterns of light inside.
Operable screens, sliding glass windows, and strategically placed voids enable the house to adapt to changing weather conditions, ensuring gentle airflow throughout the day. This façade stands as the project’s signature moment, demonstrating how local materials and craftsmanship can create a living, climate-responsive architecture.
Interior Expression and Finishes
Interior spaces blend pale plastered walls, wooden floors on upper levels, and small terracotta tiles in bathrooms and kitchens. Ground floors feature light-toned tiles, creating continuity across both residences. Materials, textures, and colours work harmoniously to balance warmth with modern simplicity.
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