H&P Architects has designed the AgriNesture house in Vietnam to have a large space for agriculture so that its owners can grow their own food.

The house in the town of Mao Khe in QuangNinh Province was designed by H&P Architects to create a growing space as millions of hectares of agricultural land have been lost in the country to urbanisation and industrialisation.

The building's roof is meant to be used for planting and has a system for rainwater collection and the re-use of water, which means that the owners can be partly self-sufficient.

"The house is like a cube of earth cut out from a field," the studio said. "Inside this cube are many nooks of the nest connected to a section of field at the top roof."

The two-storey, 75 square metres home was built with a frame of reinforced concrete and clad in red brick, which are also used exposed throughout the interiors.

As well as on the roof, planting continues through the house, with a combined sink and planter made from concrete holding an indoor tree, and a selection of green plants suspended from the ceiling.

Skylights and large windows let shafts of sunlight into the house, which the architects said can also be used as a "home for all" in the service of education, health, and community.

The studio hopes that the house will become a template for further houses topped by planted areas and has already begun work on its successor, which is being built in Hai Duong near Mao Khe.

Each home will use materials appropriate to its surroundings, but all have a large planted area for agriculture on its roof.

"Users will directly participate in the process of building the house and they will actively divide the spaces subject to their own needs," the studio said. "In addition, they are also the ones to produce the cover materials appropriate with their local conditions."

"The building process will help create jobs and shape homes which promote agriculture development and bring about ecological balance as well as economic stability for the population in vulnerable areas," it continued.

H&P Architects has previously designed a house in Hanoi that resembles a brick cave and used leftover construction materials to create a community building.

Photography is by Nguyen Tien Thanh.