Located off a quiet cur-de-sac of Gallop Park, the house sits on a 19000sqft land. The client is a local developer who is also in the business of supplying building materials. The house is built for his family of five and with guest rooms for the parents and in-laws. Not uncommon to most Good Class Bungalows, he wanted generous spaces for entertainment, for hosting of parties of various scales.
When he purchased the land, the existing house was sited in the middle of the plot. There are two key considerations that led to the decision for new erection over extending the existing house.
The client wanted to be able to experience the expanse of land that a centrally positioned house cannot afford. They were concerned of overlooking issues from neighbours on the elevated ground along the back boundary. The old house has many split-levels to respond to the undulating site that pose accessibility issue as well. After weeks of deliberation and the conclusion is reached that the existing house cannot be reconfigured in any way to fully resolve the client’s concerns, we decide to design with a clean slate but conserving all the mature trees and the tree house designed by Prof Joseph Lim of NUS.
We proposed a single linear volume that stretches the entire elevated back boundary, freeing as much garden in front. We like the idea that, from the main street, the massing recalled the old Black and White Bungalows often served by a long driveway leading to the house sited on the higher plateau, overlooking the front lawn. The pool block placed perpendicular to the main house attempts to connect the existing tree house. It also has the effect of a pool that extends indefinitely into the landscape or horizon. Spatially, the single storey pool block delineates the winding driveway from the main front lawn and creates a drop off midway to approach the house.
Much effort was invested to buffer the western exposure along its main and only aspect. All the spaces in the basement and first storey is deeply recessed from the edge with outdoor terraces. A layer of timber slates shields the bedroom balconies of the upper volume. The timber slates extends to envelope the mono-pitched metal roof, creating a ventilated system. Internally, staggered double volume spaces connect all three floors, allowing the house to be ventilated effectively by stack effect.
