HOLE-LY HOUSE
Completion Year | 2016
This is a reconstruction of an existing 2-storey inter-terrace fronting a main road. The client wanted to rebuild his existing house to accommodate three generations of his family members under the same roof.
NATURAL LIGHTING
As with most inter–terraces with narrow frontage and a deep site, the existing house was dark and dimly lit in absence of sufficient natural lighting. 2 rectangular skylights running along the two party walls punctuates the middle of the house to bring in natural lighting during the day. A rectangular void is carved out on the attic floor slab to channel daylighting to the double-volume family area located on the 2nd storey.
SQUARE OPENINGS
A series of “square” punch out skylights dot the car porch to provide natural lighting. The granite slabs on the car porch floor similarly mimics the “squares” through the use of different finishes of granite. In line with the idea of square “punch-out” openings, the guest room located on the 2nd storey has a number of “randomly” positioned square windows.
EVOLVING FRONT FAÇADE
The 3rd Storey Master Bedroom faces a main road which has high vehicular volume during peak hours. The front façade is also west facing which results in substantial heat-gain during the day. To mitigate this, we created a “folding-sliding” sun-shading screen over the sliding glass panels. The purpose of this screen is dual-fold, on the one hand, providing much needed sun-shading whilst it also helps to screen off the bedroom from prying eyes. The front façade takes on a different look when the sun-shading screen is fully opened.
This is a reconstruction of an existing 2 storey inter-terrace dwelling house located somewhere in Upper Bukit Timah area.
The existing 2 storey house prior to the reconstruction was dark and dinghy as most 80s terrace houses. We decided to play up the idea of injecting daylight into the long and narrow plot by positioning 2 skylights along the 2 party walls in the middle.
A double volume family area located on the 2nd to 3rd storey is punctuated with natural light that penetrates from the skylight inserted at the attic roof.
This house is fronted by a major vehicular road. Not wanting to compromise the view and opportunity for natural lighting to the front facing room, a "hole-ly" folding-sliding louvred screen is introduced at the 3rd storey master room. The design language of "square" holes is continued onto the 2nd storey facade and the carporch roof.
