Our story / How we did it
An old house
turned into a place to work.
We did not just open a cafe and wait for laptops to arrive.
Every detail was rebuilt around a real working session.
- 3 floors, 3 working rhythms
- A socket at every table
- 0 minutes on the clock
The problem we started with
Work travels
anywhere you go.
A seat where you can finish it does not.
A university at the top of the street, a hospital behind us, offices and three high schools within walking distance. Nobody here is short of work — only short of somewhere to do it. Every cafe rushes you out, or is too loud to open a laptop.
This three-storey house had been empty for years. Patchy limewash walls, old cement floor tiles, a narrow wooden staircase. People told us to tear it down and pour concrete instead.
We kept the house and rebuilt the inside — in the order a working session actually needs: power, connection, the clock, and only then room for a whole team.
The measure we hold ourselves to
A day here should be long enough to finish your work, and quiet enough that you don't want to be anywhere else.
That is why the place is called Một Ngày — one day.
Step by step · 05 chapters
One thing fixed each year
for one working day.
- 012019Finding the place
A three-storey house standing empty.
- Problem
- A university at the top of the street, a hospital behind, offices and three high schools all around. Nobody had anywhere to work for more than an hour.
- What we did
- We took on the empty three-storey house instead of a single-floor unit — so each floor could later become its own kind of space.
- Result
- Three floors, three working rhythms able to share one address without getting in each other’s way.
- 022021The renovation
Kept the house, replaced the wiring.
- Problem
- Knocking it down would have been quicker, but it would have cost exactly what made the house easy to sit in: thick walls, high ceilings, cool cement tiles.
- What we did
- We only repainted the walls, polished the floor and kept the wooden doors and tiled roof — then replaced all the wiring so the whole house could run on laptops at once.
- Result
- The cafe opened with the old shape of the house, but power and lighting built for staying a while.
- 032023Dropping the clock
Guests stayed longer than planned.
- Problem
- Office workers arrived with laptops for whole afternoons. Batteries died mid-session, the Wi-Fi jammed at lunchtime, and everyone feared being nudged into another order.
- What we did
- We added a socket to every table, ran a dedicated line for the indoor area, and dropped time limits altogether.
- Result
- One drink buys you a seat for the day — no clock, no seating surcharge.
- 042026Splitting the floors
Split the floors by how people work.
- Problem
- People who need to concentrate and groups who need to talk in the same room makes it hard for both: one side keeps its voice down, the other cannot hear itself.
- What we did
- We separated the two rhythms clearly: the first-floor garden for groups and breaks, the second-floor air-conditioned area for work that needs quiet. The garden gained a roof cover and six new wooden tables.
- Result
- Change corners without changing cafes — depending on what you are doing that day.
- 05NextOpening the rooms
The third floor, for the whole team.
- Problem
- For a team meeting, an interview or a client demo, a table in the middle of the cafe is not private enough — and should not be loud where others are concentrating.
- What we did
- Finishing the third-floor co-working area: fixed monthly desks, small meeting rooms and VIP rooms by the hour, separate from the cafe.
- Result
- A room where your team can talk without keeping their voices down. Still limewash walls and plain wood, not a glass-and-steel office.
Down to the details
Six things built
for people with laptops.
Not amenities for a poster.
Six reasons a working session here never gets interrupted.
A socket at every table
The whole house was rewired, one socket per table. No moving mid-session to hunt for power.
A dedicated line
The indoor area has its own Wi-Fi line, good enough for a video call at peak hours.
No clock running
Order a drink and the seat is yours. Stay from morning to evening during opening hours; nobody comes to nudge you.
Air conditioning all day
The indoor area stays cool from 7:00 AM to 10:00 PM, even through the hottest Buon Ma Thuot afternoon.
Long tables for groups
Tables for 4–8 in the garden and long tables indoors, for a quick meeting or working on one thing together.
A private room when you need it
Small meeting rooms and hourly VIP rooms on the third floor, for sessions that need to stay behind a door. Being finished now.
What we left alone
Kept what was old.
Rewired everything else.
Most of the space you sit in today was already here before the cafe opened.
- 01
Cement floor tiles
Patterns from decades ago, only polished — not a single tile replaced.
- 02
Wooden doors, a narrow staircase
The wooden stairs lead up all three floors, with the original handles and hinges kept in place.
- 03
Tiled roof and brick porch
The old tiled roof shelters the front porch — now the outdoor seating under the trees.
- 04
The one thing rebuilt
All the wiring, so every table has its own socket and the Wi-Fi never drops.
Today
Three ways to work
inside the same house.
On your own,
needing quiet.A table by the window, a socket at hand, air conditioning all day. For the session you simply have to finish.
See the indoor areaWith a group,
needing a big table.The garden has tables for 4–8 under the trees — room to speak up a little without bothering anyone.
See the gardenWhole team,
needing a room.The co-working area: fixed desks, small meeting rooms and hourly VIP rooms for a meeting or an interview.
Ask about what is coming
See you at Một Ngày
Bring your work along.
The seat is taken care of.
- No clock running
- Stay as long as you like, within opening hours.
- No seating surcharge
- Order a drink and the seat is already yours.
- Nobody nudging you
- One cup, and morning to evening is fine.