Field House is an expansive private residence set within a provincial landscape shaped by agricultural fields and a deeply rooted agrarian identity. Occupying a 7,000-square-meter site, the development brings together a main house, auxiliary pavilions, utility spaces, courts, and gardens to form a self-contained domestic landscape for family life, gathering, and retreat.
Set directly within open farmland, the site presented a unique condition: an abundance of openness with little urban context to define or protect the house. Its isolation leaves it exposed to prevailing winds, heavy typhoons and harsh weather, while the absence of surrounding structures introduces concerns of security and privacy. The challenge was to create a sense of refuge without turning away from the openness that defines the landscape, establishing layers of distance, landscape, and enclosure between the house and its surroundings.
From the onset, the house is pushed back from the main road, establishing distance from the public realm. Entry becomes deliberately processional, approached through a landscaped arrival plaza and drop-off that gradually reveals the house. A secondary landscape wall further establishes privacy and security. Its layered construction creates a moiré effect, echoing the shifting rhythms of the surrounding fields and filtering views as one moves through the site. Behind the wall, lawns, gardens, pools, and gazebos form a layered buffer around the residence.
The main house follows a T-shaped plan, with its central spine serving as a spatial divider between the public and private realms. This central spine contains the semi-public spaces - living, dining, kitchen, and gym - flanked by a large lap pool and lawn. A pool gazebo and multi-purpose pavilion anchor these spaces, each topped with sky gardens offering views toward the sunset and surrounding fields. The opposite wing houses the bedrooms, organized around the tropical character of the site. Pocket gardens and a skylit upper-level garden bring light and air into the plan, while lanais and wraparound balconies extend the bedrooms outdoors.
Porosity is expressed through the relationship between these spaces. At ground level, planted atriums and pocket gardens separate rooms while maintaining visual connection and privacy. Enclosed by glass on three sides, each room receives natural light, while the gardens allow prevailing winds to cross-ventilate the interiors. Sliding glass doors allow spaces to remain independent or open into a continuous living environment when desired.
On the second floor, where the private areas are located, porosity becomes more controlled through wood sun-shading screens. Selected portions are operable to modulate light, wind, and privacy, while varying perforations balance shading, ventilation, and visibility. Inspired by rice paddies and rice stalks, the screens create shifting patterns of transparency and shadow throughout the day, reinforcing the house's connection to the agricultural landscape while protecting the massing from harsh weather. The layered screens of the perimeter wall are echoed here at a more intimate scale, creating filtered views and shifting transparencies between architecture and landscape.
Field House is ultimately a refuge within openness - protected yet connected, private yet porous, allowing nature to remain a constant and active part of everyday life.
