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UNCOMMONSINGAPORE

2013 | S$8

Aamer Architects A D Lab Pte Ltd CHANG Architects Formwerkz Architects Genome Architects HYLA ip:li Architects Lekker Design Linghao Architects Red Bean Architects Wallflower Architects Zarch Collaboratives

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maintained their expressive architectural spirit, yet remain convincing in their rational of aligning with the lifestyles, preferences and habits of the modern dweller.

Models of Sustainability

iNTRODUCTION

Zarch Collaboratives’ Jalan Mat Jambol House features a bio-pool with a self-sustaining filtration system that engage the natural processes of living materials such as plants and fishes, instead of chemical cleaners to purify and sanitize the water.

The project also re-uses old and unwanted local wood, painstakingly sourced from workshops around Singapore.

Sensitivity to Natural Context Victoria Park by ip:li is conceptualised as a rock on a hilly slope with spaces carved out for liveability and to let light in. Frame House by Chang Architects deploy shells that frame views. The Wind-Vault House by Wallflower is a raised reinforced concrete tube that captures prevailing breezes.

Works of Materiality The Re-Wrapped House on Jalan Binchang by A D Lab features a timber roof that organically wraps, bends and folds independently around the top and sides of the house.

New Spatial Typologies Models of Structural Distinction This annual edition of D+A is focussed on the Uncommon Singapore House, featuring a curated selection of extraordinary bespoke houses that offer an inspiring look at the variety of uncommon habitats local design firms have completed in recent years. Noteworthy models of imagination and innovative space-crafting, these houses are exemplary of sustainability, structural distinction and tectonic exploration; dwellings that are sensitive to their natural context, or works that are painstakingly detailed and heavily textured in materiality. All are visions of delight that uplift the residential landscape.

The selection of houses is curated across a broad category of landed residential typologies, including the urban row house, the semi-detached suburban dwelling, and the detached house. The creators have

Models of Tectonic Exploration Red Bean Architects’ Block House on Cashew Road consists of three tectonic geological masses, pushing and straining. Frozen in a moment when they begin to slide apart from one another, the singularity of each block is expressed resulting in a horizontal articulation of the house. Gallery House by Lekker Design is a house and an art gallery. The programmatic doublelife is engaged through a play of two volumes. The lower volume is triple-height with a rotated tower, which appears to be partially suspended below.

With the growing affluence of the dweller, sports facilities such as gyms and lap pools, as well as designated entertainment spaces such as karaoke, mahjong rooms and gallery spaces have become mainstay amenities in dwelling projects. Some of these ancillary spaces have even subvert domestic spaces.

The Water-Cooled House by Wallflower Architects locates the main living room and study in a pavilion on the second storey, to fully appreciate the mature and variegated natural environment.

The internal green courtyard has once again undergone reinterpretations. The Courtyard House by Formwerkz redefines the Si He Yuan courtyard house from its vernacular typology to suit an urbanized tropical context.

The T House by Linghao Architects pushes the boundaries of sunken courtyards with the alluring domestic vision of birds flying through the covered court, while dwellers sit to chat and watch TV.

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The Exo-House in Thomson by GAD features a fully performative structural facade where truss-like steel members externally allow for a column- and beam-free space enclosed within. The resultant exoskeleton structure is expressive and functional at the same time.

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iNTRODUCTION Aamer Architects ROOF HOUSE A D Lab RE-WRAPPED HOUSE A D Lab 16A LORONG M TELOK KURAU CHANG Architects FRAMED HOUSE Formwerkz Architects COURTYARD HOUSE Formwerkz Architects DIAMOND HOUSE Genome Architects EXO-HOUSE HYLA 19 JALAN ANGIN LAUT ip:li 67 SENNET LANE ip:li 36 VICTORIA PARK Lekker Design GALLERY HOUSE Linghao Architects T HOUSE Red Bean Architects BLOCK HOUSE Wallflower Architects WATER COOLED HOUSE Wallflower Architects WIND VAULT HOUSE Zarch Collaboratives JALAN MAT JAMBOL HOUSE

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architect: Aamer Architects principal architect: Aamer Taher land area: 687m2 (7,400ft2) built-up area: 479m2 (5,200ft2) project year: 2012

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he three-storey house is for a young family with two children. It is designed, essentially, as a long block that splits away from the neighbour’s common parti wall, creating an internal garden courtyard which is the main feature of the house. Planters and roof gardens at the 2nd storey level bring nature into the house, creating the sense of living in a garden. The main roof is inspired by the traditional East Malaysian roof with deep overhangs that form the beautiful distant views of the attic level. Although the house is semi-detached, Aamer Architects has, typically, focussed on ‘detaching’ it into ‘a free-standing villa, seemingly independent.’ The client had envisaged their new home to be based on tropical designs, sufficiently private and surrounded by greenery.

1 Front entrance 2 Rear garden

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3 4 3 Plantings on the 2nd storey along the west side 4 Attic floor balcony

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section

elevation

attic storey plan

2nd storey plan

1st storey plan

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5 Main door 6 2nd storey corridor to the bedrooms

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7 The landscaped green courtyard

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8 Airy, naturally cooled living room 9 The master bathroom is open to the elements with privacy created by lush, varied plants/ greenery 10 Dining room terrace at the back garden

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Said Aamer: ‘When they came to me, they said they like the old kampongstyle houses, that is why they bought into this area which still has a rather old feel to it. They are not totally aircon people, and prefer a casual lived-in lifestyle. They have two small kids, so it was more a functional brief. They cooperated and liked what we designed. It was really our response to the site. I draw inspiration from the things I like, things I grow up with, have seen.

Internally, we imbibed the traditional longhouse concept of family living – that you live on the same floor and share the common outdoor areas. This is the way we are supposed to live in Asia. So this design kind of suits them. Every site inspires you in a different way, and I thought the longhouse would be ideal for this site...Visually – and physically – we love the way we can walk through the corridor to the wide open, green space at the back. An amazing, spacious garden, ending where the land has a natural split again. We created a higher garden with steps leading up to it. There are some thoughts of making it a pavilion in the future but for now it is just a raised garden.’

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architect: A D Lab Pte Ltd project team: Warren Liu, Wu Yanling, Anna May Manrique, Najeeb Rahmat total floor area: 529.55m2 (5,700ft2) project year: 2012

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ocated in a quiet cul-de-sac at Jalan Binchang, the twostorey brick house that was built in the 1970s was, like its many neighbours, in need of renovation. In their design of 67 Jalan Binchang, the architectural team studied the site’s history and development, for ways to enlarge and rejuvenate the existing semi-detached house that would maintain its harmony within the context of its environment. They looked at the existing building as one would study a living organism that needed to adapt to a new environment. Instead of demolishing it and building something new, they decided to use the existing structure, its internal logic of organization and meaning as a starting point to the design, and to build upon this pre-existing pattern and structure to evolve it into a new form and space.

How the spaces can evolve with time and changes are looked into, for a longer lifespan of the new house.

To reduce waste and costs on the project, and to minimize disruption to the neighbour’s house, the designers decided to retain the entire two-storey semi-detached house and added a two-storey extension with attic. Between the old house and the new structure is a spatial gap to bring light and wind through the house, and for the new building to settle in independently.

Small bridges at the 2nd storey over the gap capture views diagonally through the house. The internal building’s logic of the front-facing public room, rear facing services and private 2nd storey of the existing house were maintained and carried over to the side extension.

Section

Story courtesy A D Lab Pte Ltd | Photography by Edward Hendricks

Entrance from car porch, across the swimming pool

1st storey plan

2nd storey plan

3rd storey plan

1 View from entrance foyer to dining room 2 Living room 3 Gap between the existing and newly built structures lets in light and breezes.

Small bridges over the gap at the 2nd storey allow views diagonally through the house.

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elevation 1

elevation 2

elevation 3

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4 Entertainment room on the attic floor 5 Master study with steps to the entertainment room 6 Master bath and bedroom

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7 Evening view of the house located at a cul-de-sac

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To minimize materials, as well as to link the two structures together, the designers used the 5th elevation of the house, the roof form, as the main façade of the old and new parts of the building. They bent and folded this form around the top and sides of the house. This roof was conceived as an evolution of the traditional sloping gable tropical roof, and retains the history of the visual and function importance of the roof in the tropics.

The organically wrapping independent roof creates an insulating buffer between the harsh tropical sun and the internal and external living spaces below.

An example of resource efficacy in the design is the use of simple, locally available materials to construct a ‘breathing’ wall out of organically organized painted brick on the northeast face of the building. This multi-functional permeable wall helps to cut down noise from the nearby Category 3 road of Bishan Street 22, and allows prevailing winds to flow through the building, as well as reduce heat in the house so as to lower the building’s dependency on airconditioning. The prevailing winds in Singapore blow in northeast and southwest directions, so the designers took advantage of this to place the ‘breathing’ wall strategically to allow these winds to run through the house and into the central courtyard which is further cooled by a large swimming pool and water feature. The permeable wall, as well as the main internal spaces of the house, wrap around and open into this courtyard, providing its shaded and naturally cool environment. Aesthetically, the breathing wall creates beautiful patterns of light across the inner surfaces of the house, creating a calm and peaceful atmosphere where space is in harmony with its history, its climate and with the natural elements.

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LORONG M architect: A D Lab Pte Ltd design team: Warren Liu, Dennis Ng Han Hein total floor area: 547m² (5,888ft²) project year: 2011

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The entire side of house is wrapped in an ‘organic skin’ of brick that stretches open in areas to let light and ventilation through, and closes where privacy is required.

Story courtesy A D Lab | Photography by Edward Hendricks

quiet and unassuming gesture to the street with a respect of the humble scale of the adjacent series of semi-detached houses along Lorong M Telok Kurau describes the entrance to this reconstruction project by A D Lab Pte Ltd. From a second glance, one might notice the subtle moiré pattern on the brickwork of the front facade that would introduce the main design intention of the house and define its relationship with the surrounding land and context. Designed by architect Warren Liu Yaw Lin and his young team at A D Lab, 16A Lorong M Telok Kurau is reflective of the firm’s philosophy and attitude of how buildings and, in a sense, humanity, can be more respectful of the land we inhabit. Liu is passionate about the importance of designing buildings with a ‘ground up’ approach as opposed to a ‘top down’ approach. ‘By this, I mean that we first look at the site, look at the neighbours, try to enhance what is beautiful about the site, try to sit lightly on the land, and not to damage the natural surroundings,’ he explains.

In this project, the architects were careful not to waste what was already on the site. ‘To tear down a perfectly strong and healthy existing structure and then built a new structure just because the old structural elements are perhaps not conveniently located or seemingly too difficult to retain, is not a very sustainable way of looking at redevelopment.’ Liu always tries not to waste what is still usable, and in the case of this house, he has retained the structure of the existing semi-detached building on the site. He explains that his building evolved from there, from the logic that was already predetermined by the old, and then he transformed it into something very new and exciting.

As is often the case with semi-detached houses in Singapore, the long open side of the house faces the long side of the neighbour’s property, creating an ‘overlooking’ problem. Here, the architect’s resolution to this problem was to look back at a basic element of architecture - the brick. The entire side of the existing structure of the Telok Kurau building is wrapped in a new organic skin made of brick that stretches open in areas to let light and ventilation through, and closes where privacy is required. The resulting language is a timeless rethinking of a traditional material.

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1st storey plan

2nd storey plan

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1 Master bathroom, second storey, behind the brick screen 2 Master bedroom 3 Family room 4 Ground floor living and dining areas

The site is a very deep and relatively narrow plot of land that faces, on its longest side, an existing, towering, four-storey building that is built up to the maximum setback. Because of the extended depth of the site, the architect chose to perform some minor surgery on the existing structure by breaking it open in its centre to allow an internal atrium to unify the building vertically. This atrium also introduces light and long diagonal views up from the living and dining rooms on the first floor, to the master bedroom and family room on the 2nd floor, and further up to the master study and music room in the attic.

Along the entire ground floor, a band of full-height glass windows links the series of spaces together with a constant relationship to the narrow strip of garden at the side. Since the garden on the ground floor could be made to be quite private with the clever use of planting and fencing, the rooms open up as much as possible to the external to allow the maximum amount of light to enter the long spaces.

Although it is essentially an open plan, each programmed room along the ground floor is given its defined space and spatial character through an alternating sequence of centrally focused spaces and open spaces.

The first space encountered, past the front doors, is a highly intimate living room-and-lounge area that is stepped down into like a cosy niche, edged with built-in strips of sofa style seating, and rich and sensual materials such as heavily grained timber and soft fabrics.

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The space then transits to a more open lounge where the views are brought from the low level views of the niche seating corner to a more grand upward diagonal view into the lofty atrium above. A lightweight open-tread staircase leads from this space to the upper realms of the house and helps to accentuate the impression of lightness and spatial openness of this room. Moving further to the rear of the deep site, the space then introverts once more into a more intimate dining room.

Here, the architects cleverly used the heavy columns of the existing house to create one side of a series of portals that frame the room and give it a slightly more formal character.

It is from the 2nd floor onward that the effect of the elegant brick patterns is most experienced. The large expanse of patterned brick walls that open in gradual organic sequences are separated from the external spaces with sheets of sliding glass that can be moved aside to be directly felt within the rooms, or closed to aircondition the space when needed. Although this long expanse of wall faces a hostile neighbour, the mediating factor of the brick screen allows the feeling of being directly connected to nature in how it opens up to experience the landscape, while closing itself off to unpleasant portions of the views and to the harsh direct sunlight.

Beautiful and hypnotic reflected patterns of light from the brick screen fall lightly on the floors and surrounding walls, giving the spaces an almost cathedral-like quality and an ambiguous semioutdoor character.

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consultants: CHANG Architects, City-Tech Associates design: Chang Yong Ter site Area: 275.6m² (2,966.5ft²) GFA: 287.17m² (3,091ft²) project year: 2008

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Story courtesy CHANG Architects | Photography by Albert Lim

he client’s brief for their ‘first house’ is that, it has to provide adequate privacy yet open enough for their toddlers to enjoy outdoor spaces, has ample storage space, and is constructed economically. The purchased site is a 275m² lot that sits amongst a row of terrace houses. It faces a street with relatively heavy traffic, while the rear opens to a public park which the couple is drawn to.

The design adopted the public park as the backdrop of the house, with a series of ‘rectilinear open shells’ that frame views of it, offering different perspectives of the park from various parts of the house.

The design process started with paper folding, to explore the possible spatial dynamics by dissecting a box, and displace the parts into multiple planes of alternating solids and voids. This was later developed, together with scaled drawings, and with a series of mockups made of wood boards.

On plan and section, the displaced shells generated juxtaposed spaces, displacing the interior/exterior boundaries, and optimizing daylighting and natural ventilation. The alternating solids and voids minimize direct views from the adjacent house and vice versa, whilst allowing constant connection with the exterior and the park. These shells are stepped away from the street, a gesture to break the scale of the house, to bring daylight in, and to greet the street at a private distant.

Along one axis, the shells are kept thin with steel members as the base structure. On another axis, clear glass panels are used for the front and rear enclosures. These shells are the structure, as well as the walls, floors, ceilings, roofs, and windows of the house. This configuration generates a constantly light-filled space. The glass panels can be opened on both ends for cross-ventilation, whilst gaps between fixed glass panels serve as air-vents.

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1 House entrance 2 Car porch 3 Side of house with wading pond, showing series of frames 4 View up from ground floor 5 Sketches and study model

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Spatial porosity has been the mantra during the design process, to ensure visual connectivity between the internal spaces, and for the rooms that are located upfront to have views of the park as well. The brief had called for six rooms of varying degrees of openness and privacy, as the couple plays regular host to visiting relatives and friends.

On street level, direct view into the interior is deliberately kept obscured.

Partly because the couple wants privacy on the ground level and to minimize exposure to the noise from the traffic, and partly for the ritual of entering and discovering the house, with the entrance door revealed only when one walks further into the front porch.

Upon entry, a vista of the park unfolds, through an interconnected space consisting of the living, dining, and the kitchen. A central core opens up, visually connecting to the rooms above, and to the corridors of other rooms that offer more privacy. Although inter-telecommunication system is provided in this house, the family has found little need for this, as they realize that they could communicate between the rooms/spaces easily by coming to this central core.

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Parents’ Room Walk-in-wardrobe Outdoor terrace Home office

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Rachel’s Room Gallery Joshua’s Room Guest Room View deck

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Car Porch Guest Room Living Dining Dry Kitchen Wet Kitchen Store Maid’s Room Utility Room Yard Front Garden Wading Pool BBQ area Public park

Attic plan

2nd storey plan

1st storey plan

1 Car Porch 2 Guest Room 7 Store 8 Maid’s Room 9 Utility Room 10 Yard 14 Public park 15 Rachel’s Room 16 Gallery 18 Guest Room 20 Parents’ Room 22 Outdoor terrace 23 Home office

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This house is categorized as a corner terrace by the local planning authority, which requires one side of the house to abut its neighbour, separated by a party wall. Where this wall is, the spaces are detached from it to allow for the penetration of daylight, to enhance cross-ventilation, and to provide pockets of gardens for the rooms. A wading pool that collects rainwater encompasses the other side of the house, and flows into part of the living spaces. This has been the kids’ favourite play area, which also serves as a means for passive cooling for the house.

This house was constructed within a stringent budget that had necessitated the use of basic and conventional materials for the structures and finishes, without compromising on the intended spatial qualities of the house. The design placed emphasis on the inherent articulations of the forms and spaces in response to the tropical climate, over the use of technologies for microclimate control, with the belief that the human psyche responds best to the natural elements.

A bluish tone is selected for the external surfaces of the shells, with the interior white washed. As daylight shifts throughout the day, changing hues from the blue walls reflect onto the internal walls, constantly transforming the ambience of the house.

6 Joshua and grandma in the living room 7 View of the study 8 View of the park at the rear of the house, from the master bedroom 9 Terrace outside bedroom 10 Living room

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architect: Formwerkz Architects | landscape architect: Salad Dressing design team: Alan Tay, Livina Rahmayanti, Alicia Lazzaroni, Makhasiri Khanoei site area: 1,000m² (10,763.9ft²) GFA: 900m² (9,687.5ft²) project year: 2012

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Central Courtyard. The main spaces are organized around this central, outdoor atrium where a lap pool runs parallel to one edge. The ground floor is finished entirely in hone travertine without any drops to blur the boundaries between indoor and outdoor, unifying the entire ground floor as a singular, seamless, communal space. The perforated concrete wall allows for air flow and glimpses of the garden beyond, but shields the house from the western sun and adjacent neighbours.

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1 Street elevation. The front terrace and the main living space sits on higher ground from the street. A layer of timber lattice screens the private quarters on the upper floor.

2 Entrance foyer. The main timber door is detailed to reinterpret the traditional Chinese main door.

3 The rear master block contains the more private part of the house.

The lap pool penetrates the courtyard wall into the garden surrounding the house.

Story AND CAPTIONS courtesy Formwerkz Architects | Photography by Albert Lim

he house is located in a 3-storey mixed landed residential district in the eastern part of Singapore. Built for a multigenerational family who seeks a communal way of living in a space that is private, screened from the prying eyes of surrounding neighbours. Inspired by the Si He Yuan courtyard house, the project seeks to readapt the vernacular typology found in the northern regions of China, to a detached house typology in an urbanized tropical context.

The main spaces are organized around this central outdoor atrium where a lap pool runs parallel to one edge. The ground floor is finished entirely in hone travertine without any drops to blur the boundaries between indoor and outdoor, unifying the entire ground floor as a singular, seamless, communal space.

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Sections

Rear elevation

Front elevation

Side elevation 1

Side elevation 2

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First storey

Sections

Second storey

Third storey

Diagrams

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The front block accommodates the more public parts of the house.

The communal spaces on the ground floor are generous, open and integrated with the courtyard, the front and back gardens. The rooms on the upper floor are family spaces such as the library and play room, which also double up as guest rooms.

Residents can adjust the degree of openness by sliding the full-height wall panels.

6 & 7 The external corridor on the upper floor that loops round the central courtyard is shielded from the rain with sensor activated motorized blinds.

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8 & 9 Sliding timber screens. The verandah of the master ensuite and kid’s room is sheltered by a layer of fixed and sliding timber vertical fins detailed to be flushed with the fixed panels when closed.

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10 Wardrobe on third storey 11 Gate to garden bridge

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12 Garden bridge. These external linkages (bridge and an external stair) are part of the circulatory routes that loop around the central courtyard, allowing the residents to experience the lush topical garden as part of their daily processional rituals.

13 Roof garden 14 Front terrace, evening

The perforated concrete wall allows for air-flow and glimpses of the garden beyond, and screens off the western sun and the adjacent neighbours.

The house expresses the relationship between periphery and core. Similar to the traditional courtyard typology, the inner core is a private, secure and well-ventilated outdoor space intended as an extension of the family space. While the periphery is surrounded in dense tropical foliage, the courtyard is tranquil and contemplative. Through a series of spatial appendixes of bridges, wall perforations, pool extensions, shower stalls, stairs and bay windows that penetrate the two side walls that bound the inner sanctum, the residents get to experience the tropical garden on the periphery.

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diamond HOUSE

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architect: Formwerkz Architects landscape architect: Salad Dressing design team: Alan Tay, Foo Yuet Yee, Cai Xun site area: 557.4m² (6,000ft²) GFA: 464.5m² (5,000ft²) project year: 2012

The front and side facades are pared down with openings strategically positioned to allow optimal day lighting with minimum compromise in privacy. The sloping walls at the corners allow for a smaller footprint while expanding the spatial volume at upper levels. The triangulated tinted glass curtain wall in the front facade exposes little in the day, but reveals the internal volumes within at nightfall. The reinforced concrete external wall is clad entirely in ironwood, and the fenestration in tinted blackframe glazing. The basement garage is accessed via a platform car lift set within the reflective pool beside the driveway.

Story courtesy Formwerkz Architects | Photography by Albert Lim

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he house along Cove Drive in Sentosa sits on a slightly tapered site that faces a man-made lake. Built for a small family that greatly cherish their privacy, the house turns it back on the street and the sides where the neighbours are in close proximity. Like a monolith resting over the gardens, the single, faceted volume houses the main spaces with their primary view to the waterway. The main entrance brings one into the centre of the house with the living and dining space on the sides.

The upper floors are split in the middle into two volumes that house the daughter and the parent’s bedrooms. The basement accommodates the guest room, entertainment, services and garage, lit and ventilated largely by the sunken courtyards.

Basement

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Site plan

1st storey

2nd storey

Attic

Roof

At the rear, the timber-clad envelope unfolds to reveal the glazed volumes that house the main spaces. The living space opens out to the outdoor deck that overlooks a sunken garden punctured with clusters of towering trees whose reflections fall on the lap pool along the lake boundary. In one corner is a 500-year-old olive tree.

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The massing on grade is kept deliberately small to create more garden spaces within the tight site. The geometry is derived from negotiating with the planning parameters imposed on the neighbourhood and the desire to simplify the building form. The front and side facades are pared down with openings strategically positioned to allow optimal day lighting with minimum compromise in privacy. The sloping walls at the corners allow for a smaller footprint while expanding the spatial volume at upper levels.

Like its simple form, few architectural materials were used.

The facades are entirely wrapped in iron wood. The interior adopts a lighter palette of oak and travertine. At nightfall, fragments of the internal spaces are seen on the facade. The muted, impenetrable volume gradually gives way to the volumes of internal light, revealing the intricacy within.

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The main entrance brings one into the centre of the house with the living and dining space on the sides. The upper floors are split in the middle into two volumes that house the daughter and the parent’s bedrooms.

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Main stair – the twisting stair is detailed to have a more transparent inner face using laminated glass parapet, while the outer parapet is cladded in oak to render more privacy next to the triangulated curtain wall facing the street.

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Stairway to the attic floor.

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Basement gallery

5 & 6 Kitchen – the space expands voluminously with the sloping profile of the external envelope.

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architect: Genome Architects design team: Wu Yen Yen, Low Peiying site area: 248.7m2 (2,677ft2) GFA: 247.64m2 (2,666ft2) project year: 2013

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he design of this reconstruction project, the Exo House in Thomson, explores an expressive structure that is both logical in its interpretation of cantilevering loads, as well as the resultant emotive and aesthetics aspect of such an exoskeleton. Conceived as an extension that is self-supporting yet simultaneously cantilevering an additional attic space over the existing two-storey house on a small footprint, the white steel exoskeleton is celebrated sculpturally while explicitly performing its load-bearing abilities optimally.

The design, hence, is developed to explore a fully performative structural facade where truss-like steel members externally allow for a column- and beam-free space enclosed within. In the absence of traditional straight columns and beams in the extension, the brick walls are also ‘free’ to create their own dynamic shifts. Further complimented by the steel mesh infills that partly function as sunscreens, the triple strata of structure, screen and wall combine to form what is eventually a dynamic form.

1 to 3 Strikingly visible exo-skeletal structure of the new addition to the house

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Story courtesy Genome Architects | Photography by Thio Lay Hoon

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4 Carporch and main entrance, ‘exposing’ bits of the exoskeleton

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Gap between brickwall and house, with rear access

6 & 7 Dry rock garden on the underside of ‘floating’ stair at the open wind-channel from the gap between brickwall and house 8

2nd floor landing outside bedrooms

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Living and dining/kitchen areas (stool and sofa courtesy White House Living Pte Ltd)

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View from guestroom, with a rear access and shower area, towards kitchen/dining

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View from dry kitchen

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Attic level family area and open roof terrace

Internally, a new party brick wall that forms part of an internal façade echoes this movement through its gradual displaced laying of brick, forming a rippling pattern that is backdrop to rooms and an outdoor powder room. In the existing house that was retrofitted, old plaster on the walls was stripped away to expose the original older brickwork, and the roof timber rafters restored as a reminder of its authenticity without confusing it with the new additions.

At the living room, a row of mild-steel sliding doors in safety glass was customized to achieve a flushed glass line that hides, in succession, a guest room, a powder room and the wet kitchen. The detail in this top hung sliding glass door system, allows for a single rail that transports 8 sliding glass panels freely past each other in a way that traditional overlapping sliding doors do not.

Another interesting addition to the extension is the introduction of a natural, open wind-channel that doubles up in function to hold a ‘floating’ stair from the second storey to the new attic, hovering over a dry rock garden below on the underside. The rock garden with its exposed brick wall backdrop can also be seen, via a controlled window, from within the privacy of the master dressing room. This interstitial space of a staircase, thus lends itself to channel natural light and ventilation directly and indirectly, to other areas of the house vertically and horizontally.

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Features & Benefits One of the many key features of DI-NOCTM Architectural Finishes is its diversity in terms of possible areas of application as well as the product’s inherent flexibility which allows it to conform to three dimensional compound shapes like curved and rounded profiles – something that traditional high pressure laminates are unable to achieve.

In addition, DI-NOCTM Architectural Finishes are available in over 500 designs of varying textures, patterns and colours, to inject greater vibrancy and dimensionality into your living spaces. In terms of functionally, DINOCTM films are highly durable, resistant to scratches, abrasion, solvents, and water (excluding full water immersion) and is easy to clean and maintain. Selected series of DI-NOCTM are even engineered for long-term outdoor applications.

DI-NOCTM films also contributes to LEEDTM Sustainability credits by reducing items sent to the landfill by maintaining and reusing existing structures, fixtures and furniture. With its variety of textures and patterns, quality and application possibilities, 3MTM DI-NOCTM Architectural Finishes has all your architectural and interior needs covered.

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19 JALAN ANGIN LAUT

architect: HYLA design team: Han Loke Kwang, Kristten Chan, Eunice Chen, Watinee Roajduang land Area: 513.7m² (5,529.4ft²) GFA: 582.14m² (6,266ft²) project year: 2012

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2 1 View over pool and glass ramp towards living and family rooms 2 View towards spiral stairs and entrance foyer

Story courtesy HYLA | Photography by Derek Swalwell

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resenting a sleek faรงade to its neighbours.

The finely detailed screens of No. 19 Jln Angin Laut conceal a house nestled gently into a garden. Its entrance elevated above the ground, one has to ascend a glass staircase to enter the house, a 3-storey bungalow with basement and swimming pool. Opening the solid timber front door, one is greeted with a swimming pool and patio surrounded by lush greenery.

Amply shaded overhead yet admitting light and air from the sides, this space is a paradigm of living comfortably in the tropics. A glass bridge spanning lightly across the pool leads to the living room.

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Front elevation

Rear elevation

Elevation 4

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Elevation 2

First storey plan

Basement plan

Second storey plan

Third storey plan

Roof plan

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3 Dry kitchen 4 Second floor family room 5 Stairs to third storey 6 Master bedroom 7 Study 8 Master bath

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9 Driveway

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This bridge extends the threshold of the house, prolonging the act of entering and highlighting the importance of this space to the overall design of the house. The rest of the house takes its cues from this scene, the main living spaces being punctuated with light, greenery and timber accents. Together with the skillful manipulation of solids and voids, the overall effect achieved is that the architecture seems integrated harmoniously with nature.

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A pendant light, sometimes called a drop or suspender, is a lone light fixture that hangs from the ceiling usually suspended by a cord, chain, or metal rod. Pendant lights are often used in multiples, hung in a straight line over kitchen countertops and dinette sets or sometimes in bathrooms. Pendants come in a huge variety of sizes and vary in materials from metal to glass and plastic. Many modern pendants are energy-saving low voltage models and some use halogen or fluorescent bulbs.

A billiard or island light is a longer pendant fixture, usually with long fluorescent or multiple incandescent bulbs, used over kitchen islands and billiard tables. They are sometimes considered a type of chandelier.

It is a key component to understanding Architectural lighting design and sometimes associated with interior design.

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67 sennett lane architect: ip:li Architects design team: Yip Yuen Hong, Tay Yew, Samantha Seet site area: 364.1m² (3,919ft²) GFA: 595.6 m² (6,411ft²) project year: 2012

Airwell

Location plan

Story and photos courtesy ip:li Architects

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esigned as a two-generation house situated at the end of the row of semi-detached, this westfacing house gets hot in the evening. The first stroke of architectural approach was thus to address the issue of heat and weather with a new form – a double skin structure with deep recesses and openings to draw the wind into the house.

Windows are expressed on the facade as punches of holes where the internal and external holes do

1st storey plan

2nd storey plan

elevation 1

section a-a

3rd storey plan

elevation 2

section b-b

1 attic plan 2

elevation 3

1 View from study room 2 Balcony

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section c-c

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not align, evoking a delightful play of visual depths.

The facade is faceted to address rainfall, as well as to reduce the scale of the 3-storey house down the corner of the street. The external of the house is designed as a monolithic shell on the outside, akin to a fortress for the family to recluse into their own world at the end of the day. At the same time, the material changes from cold grey granite on the outside to become warm timber finishes that clad the floor, walls and ceiling to proffer the comforts of a homely environment within.

3 3rd floor family room 4 Dining room 5 View towards bedroom, 3rd floor 6 External openings 7 Dry kitchen 8 Attic floor bedroom

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9 Wet kitchen

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Car porch and main entrance

architect: ip:li Architects design team: Yip Yuen Hong, Tay Yew, Samantha Seet site area: 364.1m² (3,919ft²) GFA: 595.6 m² (6,411ft²) project year: 2012

Story courtesy ip:li Architects | Photography by Goh Kim Hui

36 VICTORIA PARK

basement plan

1st storey plan

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aving to work with the constraints of a triangular site and organizing a house within it, the architectural strategy was decided as a single volume that appears like a rock on a hilly slope with spaces carved out for liveability and to let light in.

At once, such duality of external hardness and internal softness sets the stage for an exploration to discover how life can exist within a breathable rock. The rock-like appearance is augmented by the solidity of the second storey in the day, designed with screens around the edge of its perimeter for privacy.

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1 View of house from north-east

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2 Driveway to basement carpark

2nd storey plan

site and roof plan

section a-a

section b-b

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elevation 1

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3 View of house from pool deck 4 Light and air shaft opening to basement guestroom

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5 Living room with lightwell

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6 ‘Outhouse’ gym at far end of pool 7 Air shaft opening to basement carpark 8 Timber staircase 9 Living room 10 Dining room

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Yet the mesh allows light to filter through when night falls, providing a warm and welcoming glow on site. Such an interplay of opposites is also to be noted at the ground floor where the house is raised on columns, like a kampong house lifted off the ground, to provide connection with the lush landscape, beckoning the latter to come into the space. This gesture of engaging the site is mirrored with the composition of a gym and powder room as separate smaller volumes, placed at the tip of the triangular plot to draw activities out of the house and into the land. Moreover, the pitch roof provides a recognizable shape that allows hot air to rise and escape via a lightwell, with eaves to provide shade from the sun’s glare. But, because its setting out is off-centred, it differs from the traditional pitched roof houses, enabling a different feel to each room on the second storey due to different pitches, in spite of their similar layout on plan.

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GALLERY HOUSE architect: Lekker Design design team: Ong Ker-Shing, Joshua Comaroff, Germain Goh, Sio Lim, Peter Then, Joshua Feldman Floor area: 326m² (3,500ft²) project year: 2012

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1 & 3 Principal gallery, with hovering bedroom volume above.

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Elevation of the house, showing the two volumes, gallery (below) and home (above).

Story courtesy Lekker Design | Photography by Darren Soh/FullframePhotos

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his is a small building with two programs – a house and an art gallery – squeezed into a very dense envelope, in the midst of Singapore’s red light district. The design attempted to balance this programmatic double-life through a play of two volumes. The lower volume contains a triple-height gallery and kitchen. Above is a rotated tower, which appears to be partially suspended below the ceiling of the gallery; this holds the bedrooms and private spaces. The building has been designed such that the client may open the gallery to the public, via a separate access.

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4 Main stair, alternate view.

5 Stair landing at ground floor gallery.

6 The main stair, which appears as a volumetric object winding among blocks of rooms.

(Photo by Eugene Goh/Light Works Photography)

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7 Stair to master bedroom loft 8 Gangway linking forward and rear bedrooms.

9 Bedroom suspended at ceiling of the main gallery volume.

10 Bedroom stack floating above the principal gallery.

11 Cut metal screen, separating a bathroom from the main stair canyon.

12 Conserved entry to house, separate from gallery access.

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13 Evening view, with gallery open.

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The Gallery House is sited in a typical Singapore lot, between two very long party walls. In order to bring natural light deep into the interior, a series of small gardens have been extracted from the facade and roofline. This creates a complex series of nested spaces, merging the interior with tropical landscape.

Rooms are unexpectedly located and strangely formed, partially overlapping with others or sharing views of interior canyon spaces. The largest of these contains the main stair, which winds informally between rooms at front and back.

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T House

architect: Linghao Architects design team: Ling Hao, Yap Shan Ming, Lim Zhi Rui, Chan Hui Min site area: 133m² (1,431.6ft²) GFA: 145m² (1,560.8ft²) project year: 2012

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1 & 2 Entrance stairway

Story AND CAPTIONS courtesy Linghao Architects | Photography by Jeremy San

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n a small land in a small valley in the middle of a suburban terrace housing estate in the north of Singapore, is the T House, where a few small rooms share a garden-like court. In this covered court, birds fly through while you sit to chat and watch tv. The dining table is half on a side garden bounded by a tall wall that will have plants creeping on it over time. At night, the sound of crickets are heard in the house coming from these side gardens.

Around and through this space, are various paths.

One path will lead pass through an open kitchen where you find a palm garden with a staircase leading to a bedroom. From the rooms, big openings allow the family to feel the presence of each other amongst the natural light, wildlife and plants. The experience of the house is of many spaces coming together in an open manner and where it feels like the inside and the outside at the same time.

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3 to 6 Garden court living and dining 7

Shadows of plants on the interior wall

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At rear of house, palm garden with kitchen and stairs leading to bedroom

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Passage through the kitchen

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construction A slender steel structure was inserted onto the site.

The beams are a 150mm deep and are encased in the concrete slab and becomes part of the finish; as the off form concrete ceiling. A few existing brick walls on site become walls to the caretakers room and fathers room on the 1st storey. The plaster is removed as well as for the existing party wall bricks. New brick walls were added to make new rooms. All these are painted white except for the concrete. Aluminium framed frosted glass windows are placed to make big openings to both sides of all rooms allowing for cross ventilation. The doors are all aluminium. The whole house has the same finish; inside and outside are 8 treated similarly.

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10 Site and first floor plan

Roof terrace plan

2nd storey plan

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Stairway from roof garden

11 to 13 Roof garden 14 & 15 Front bedroom with openings on both sides, and study nook 16

Bathroom below entrance stair

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Big windows to rear bedroom

living in the house Throughout the day, the garden court reflects the changing conditions; the movements of the sun, the sudden presence of clouds, the gusts of the winds.

Under the shelter of the roof, yet very much aware of the exterior. On the roof, the owner describes the endless act of gardening; you begin here and you slowly work on to the other end and then you have to begin again. In this small house, he is slowly becoming a gardener. The household has also increased to five members. Various adjustments to the house are being made all the time, as they make a particular way of living in this open and changing house in the tropics.

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BLOCK architect: Red Bean Architects design team: Teo Yee Chin, Suchada Kasemsap, Liow Zhengping, Noelia Somolinos land Area: 478m2 (5,145.2ft2) GFA: 710m2 (7,642.4ft2) project year: 2012

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his is a new bungalow for a large extended household – a couple with three grown-up sons, each with his own family. In addition, amenities such as a karaoke room, a mahjong room, and a rooftop lap pool were requested for. The site was on the crest of a rising road and had unobstructed views of Bukit Gombak. This was a house that needed space, all five storeys from the basement to the attic. The resultant mass could turn out be a small tower, which would be proportionally inappropriate for a house. There was thus a need to break up the verticality of the form. The house is conceived as three tectonic geological masses, pushing and straining against conformity.

Story and images courtesy Red Bean Architects

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Living room side of the house

Elevations

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Attic level swimming pool

Attic plan

1 3rd storey plan

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Entry foyer

2 Stairwell 3 & 4 Family room 5

2nd storey plan

1st storey plan

Junior master bath, 3rd storey

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RED BEAN ARCHITECTS was founded in May 2009 by Teo Yee Chin. He obtained his Master of Architecture from Harvard University, Graduate School of Design. Prior to setting up Red Bean, Teo had practised for 7 years with various large and small offices in Singapore completing residential, commercial and institutional projects. He writes regularly and has contributed critical essays to journals and the national paper. The practice takes its name from a delicious grain common in Asian cuisine. It embodies a complexity in taste, form, accessibility and structure, as a non-hierarchical, uncountable mass of small seeds. As a rich metaphor it inspires the practice to seek the yet-to-be.

This represents what the practice is – proudly local and always curious about the unknown.

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Frozen in a moment when they begin to slide apart from one another, the singularity of each block is expressed resulting in a horizontal articulation of the house. The structural details required to achieve this led to an involved study in reinforced concrete. By upstand beams, structural walls and folded slabs, concrete was both the structural system as well as the material aesthetic. Square windows of varying sizes were fitted within the concrete walls. Moving through the house involved varied encounters with the surrounding greenery through these frames.

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architect: Wallflower Architecture + Design design team: Cecil Chee, Robin Tan, Sean Zheng site area: 1,634m² (17,588.23ft²) GFA: 582m² (6,265ft²) project year: 2009

Story courtesy Wallflower | Photography by Albert Lim

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idden away from the road, the site in Bukit Timah is surrounded by a verdant screen of mature trees from adjacent properties.

Breezes blowing transversely across the site is another notable aspect of the location.

The client had wanted a contemporary home that prioritized environmental coolness as a consistent attribute, and to enjoy the luscious tropical surroundings.

The house’s architectural concept inverts planning and hierarchical norms common in local residential planning. To fully appreciate the mature and variegated natural environment, and to stretch the potential for visual depth and distance, the main living room and study are located in a pavilion on the 2nd storey. It is designed with minimal enclosing and supporting structure, so as to maximize the elevated vistas.

To unconsciously guide visitors to the living pavilion above, a minimal spiral staircase is placed at the entrance foyer. Hints of the treelined views are seen through the large circular void connecting the entrance foyer to the pavilion above. A dark reflecting pond surrounds the pavilion which assists in refining the experience of serene isolation and privacy, and frames. The occasional bird dipping into the pond, rippling the surface, further ties the house to the natural surroundings. The purpose of the 2nd storey pond is also to thermally insulate the dining, bedrooms and family spaces underneath from solar heat gain, as well as help regulate temperature swings within the house.

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1 Living and lounge pavilion, 2nd floor, ‘floating’ on a pond 2 Spiral staircase to upper floor living/lounge pavilion 3 1st floor linkway to family room, bedrooms, dining room and foyer

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1st storey plan

2nd storey plan

section

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side elevation

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6 4 Oculus above entrance, on underside of pond 5 Carporch and entrance 6 Outdoor terrace outside groundfloor bedrooms

On the 1st storey, the residential and service functions of the house are delineated by a long continuous light-and-air well that is paralleled below by a similarly long and continuous koi pond. The pathway running alongside the pond that leads to the bedrooms hides the substantial service areas which are beyond the pathway wall.

As with the 2nd storey pond, the airwell and 1st storey koi pond are also designed to facilitate micro-cooling of the 1st storey rooms and spaces. The pathway is a conduit for prevailing breezes; the koi pond’s 30m length and 2m width exposes a 60m2 surface area within the house to those breezes for evaporative cooling.

As a gesture to the prominent role that water plays within the residence, an oculus within the pond highlights the main entrance, the circle of sunlight cooled and animated by the constantly changing sinusoidal patterns of refracted rays through the water above.

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WIND VAULT HOUSE

architect: Wallflower Architecture + Design design team: Cecil Chee, Robin Tan, Sean Zheng, Shirley Tan, Eileen Kok site area: 553m² (5,952.44ft²) GFA: 612m² (6,587.5ft²) project year: 2012

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1 North-south elevations (front and rear)

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s the brief was substantial, the overall form of the house, located in the East Coast area, needed to be pushed to the envelope limits. Naturally, there were also other considerations – the context and proximity of neighbouring homes, the daily sun path and the prevailing winds. Conceptually, the house is a raised reinforced concrete tube with open ends that are oriented in a general north-south direction. On this site, the prevailing breezes blow in from the south, from the direction of the nearby coast line.

Story courtesy Wallflower | Photography by Jeremy San

2 Entry foyer

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3 Living area and pool terrace 4 Stairs, view toward living/ swimming pool

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1st storey plan

2nd storey plan

Attic plan

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5 Attic floor, view towards study 6 Stairway to family area 7 Bathroom, 2nd storey

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8 Bathroom, attic floor

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In the completed house, all the bedrooms are placed on the north and south sides, with their walls banked either east or west. The tubular structure resists east-west heat gain, thanks to the solid mass of the reinforced concrete structure designed for passive cooling through the open north-south axis.

The north and south facades are treated with timber screens, and their contribution is multi-fold. They are privacy filters for the bedrooms and are the first layer of glare and solar heat reduction to the spaces inside.

The timber fins of the screen can also be angled so as to catch a breeze or to increase privacy as and when needed.

Family gatherings are a daily occurrence, and large celebratory functions also feature regularly for the client. The 1st storey is designed to be

visually expansive and uncluttered, and encourages the intermingling of space, whether one moves through the garden, living or dining. The perceived spatial boundary is not architecturally delineated in a traditional sense, but by a soldier-line of narrow polyalthia trees along the boundaries of the site.

These trees provide a level of purpose no manmade wall is able to – they shield the house from the neighbours’ windows, yet their narrow footprint still allows sun to reach the grass, while freeing up space on the lawn for play and parties. The tines of polyalthias are literally evaporative fingers, combing the air of some of its heat each time the wind blows.

The swimming pool is placed centrally between garden and living both as a focal centre and also as a central evaporative cooling surface.

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jalan matjambol HOUSE

pproaching the house from the street level, one notices a raw, chamfered concrete fascia. The windowless façade reveals the interior of the house, almost as if the house is still in a state of construction, primitive in its language of expression. The raw elevation provides glimpses of a spiral staircase drum, with a seemingly makeshift timber box protruding from the articulated structural elements, augmenting the sense of theatrics in a neighbourhood of quiet terrace houses.

The open design of the house boldly experiments with the notions of tropical dwelling, where sustainability is interpreted through the harnessing of natural elements through passive means. Located near the sea, the openness of the façade allows for cross-ventilation, where a continuous breeze can be enjoyed through the house at all times of the day, reducing the reliance on mechanical cooling systems and harkening back to principles of vernacular tropical dwellings.

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architect: Zarch Collaboratives PRINCIPAL architect: RANDY CHAN SITE area: 158m² (1,700ft²) built-up: 344m² (3,700ft²) project year: 2012

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Story by Jolene Lee | photography by Albert Lim

Split level domestic spaces

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1st storey plan

2nd storey plan

3rd storey plan

Back elevation

This open façade is made possible through a key element in the design – an overall overhang with a 2m recess providing shelter and security, where the recess allows for a greater sense of privacy for the interior spaces of the house and at the same time, shielding the main spaces from the intensity of the tropical sun and rain. It also functions as a defined patio space on the 2nd storey overlooking the expanse of green in front of the house. Long blinds allow breeze to flow through even when the façade is closed.

Hidden within is a 12m bio-pool located on the second storey which stretches through the entire length of the house along the shared parti wall. A key space in the house, this biopool anchors the main communal space, extending into the kitchen and dining area. Together with the cross ventilation allowed by the non-façade treatment, it acts to cool the house based on simple age-old principles of tropical living. The edge of the bio-pool is open to the sky and with no mechanical system installed, it is sustained entirely through an understanding of simple ecological and biological systems, a constant experiment that remains fluid, an echo of the defining ethos of the house.

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Front elevation

Attic plan

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Open windowless facade

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Second floor ramp to kitchen

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Underside view of second floor ramp

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View of second and third floors, from the open front of house

5, 6 & 7 Spiral staircase in central vertical circulation core

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8 & 9

First floor gallery space

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10 & 11 Second floor patio

The bio-pool has a self-sustaining filtration system, which consists of two secondary pools with biofiltration.

The biofiltration makes use of natural processes instead of chemical laden cleaners to purify and sanitize the water. Living materials such as plants and fishes process the water whilst keeping a neutral pH level that would not have been achievable with alkaline cleaners.

This conceptual thread of a return to the basics is continued in the use of materials, where natural recycled materials accent particular elements in the house. For instance, the use of recycled timber is evident in the staircase and the doors, lending a natural patina that coupled with the detailing, reflects the primordial nature of the tropical dwelling unit.

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All floor and timber tread re-use old and unwanted local wood, painstakingly sourced from workshops around Singapore.

The arrangement of the domestic spaces are subverted, with the ground floor anchored by a gallery space and the use of split levels linked with a central open vertical circulation core of lightly articulated staircases and ramps. This opens up the spaces while providing endless opportunities for an interesting dialogue between the programmatic spaces. The triple-volume space facilitates cross-ventilation at all rooms and the verandah inspired space planning is a reinterpretation of community spaces. The internal staircase and location of kitchen on the second floor promotes socialization.

The openness in both plan and design articulation brings forth the intention to modulate between the interior and exterior, where the diurnal extremities of the tropical outdoors and what makes a comfortable dwelling space is deftly moderated with respect for both basic ecological principles and sustainable tropical living methods. The house in its openness embraces the heat and humidity of the tropics, celebrating the climatic eccentricities in multiple layers while at the same time carefully keeping in balance with the requirements that come with its function as a domestic space in the city, drawing out delight in the choreography of the spaces within.

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(DEBITED AMOUNT UNDER GOLF EVENTS AND MARKETING PTE LTD WILL BE REFLECTED IN YOUR CREDIT CARD STATEMENT)

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RETURN ADDRESS: THE SUBSCRIPTION DEPARTMENT KEY EDITIONS PTE LTD 20 Bedok South Road Singapore 469277 Tel: 6445 3313 Fax: 6445 3373 Email: subscription@key-editions.com TERMS AND CONDITIONS: Subscription requires 4-6 weeks for processing

DATE

d+a UNCOMMON SINGAPORE HOUSES 2013

EXPIRY DATE