Categories: Residential Projects
Design Award
Jury Citation:
“This house has a very convincing architectural composition with a comfortable scale. The spaces are oriented towards the central pool which relates to the garden of the neighbouring colonial bungalow. One is able to appreciate from the lawn the dialogue between the different tectonic pieces such as the low block and grand vertical space. The components of the architecture are skilfully sited such that the carporch, entrance space and central pool are defined.”
Located close to Botanical Gardens, a UNESCO World heritage listed site, the project is a 2 storey high good class bungalow, built for typical family with children. The design is a partial courtyard scheme where the living quarters are centred around a large swimming pool which serves as both a water feature. The 3-sided courtyard opens out towards a large open garden.
The house has 3 wings – the living quarters are both ‘C’ forms – one ‘c’ seemingly floats above the swimming pool and the other rests on a long granite cladded wall which runs from the front of the house all the way to the rear of the site. The living room, meant for entertaining, is in a separate floating inverted ‘U’ shaped block, visually and spatially linked at the 2nd storey level by a glass bridge.
There is a compression of space as one enters from the road and descends to the entrance foyer under the bridge. The space expands in the living room into a soaring double height space, further accentuated by the change in materials from grey stone and timber to a pure white space.
The house is also visually and programmatically defined by 2 long walls. The main one, described above, serves as a backdrop for the swimming pool as well as separates the semi-private zone from the private family room and bedrooms. The other wall intersects this perpendicularly and separates the bedrooms from the family room, expressed as a series of bookshelves that finally terminate as the pool shower room.
