The part of “Mash/Room” is lucid in its abstraction of the architecture – two pairs of slightly displaced L-blocks, each pair set perpendicular to the other, and one set protectively guarding the other. Transposed to real life, incorporeal digital renderings materialise in the form of substantive concrete L-shaped structures, exponentially magnifying and making tangible the sense of space that initially could only be imagined. A wonderful foil for the play of light and shadow, the concrete structure dabbles in a game of “now-you-see-it-now-you-don’t” as day and night take their turns.
As long as the sun is out, the mass of the building takes precedence as the space within hides shyly in the shadows. Come evening, however, the relationship is inversed as space quite literally steps out into the light and concrete mass seeks refuge in the dark of night. Occupying the entire first level of the two-storey residence is a garage that plays home to the inhabitant’s pride and joy of a car. Despite its expression of raw concrete – nothing too different from other garages or car parks – there is a sense of covertness that comes with driving under the lowered ceiling into a concrete, almost cave-like space. In the belly of the garage, the ceiling parts dramatically in negotiating a slightly higher ceiling, the chasm bridged by a glass skylight that strategically bathes the parking space with a diffused channel of light from above.
Leading from one secret lair to another, a narrow flight of stairs verges one side of the garage, its intentionally-dimascension made to create a sense of suspense for what is to come upstairs. This second level shelters functionally spare array of spaces that only include a lounge, a kitchen cum dining area and two terraces. The industrial expression of raw concrete is further emphasized with the use of strapping exposed steel beams that run across the ceiling above, tying the opposing L-blocks together. Beyond the steel beams, a skylight created by the slight shifting of the L-shaped structures floods the space with light through louvred windows.
