A meaningful engagement with nature was the driving thought behind the conceptualisation of Seletar Park Residence. Upon arrival at the site, the entrance is lined with mature rain trees, greeting the visitor almost ceremoniously before the space extends onwards to open into a clearing embraced by the surrounding terrain.
This theme is recurring and impressed – preserved in the design to create a home that first welcomes and lateroffers experiences with nature. Providing a backdrop of simple elegance, the fine edges and sharp lines of the rectilinear forms break down the massing of the blocks while offering a textured fabric through repetition of frames, sun-shading ledges, façade fins and trellises. Rigorous in its application, this fabric lines the site boundaries, forming a canvas onto which a central landscaped court is strongly expressed.
To create intimacy in the vast court, the ground plane is separated into two, one of which is sunken and leads down into the basement level via a set of landscaped stairs. The main pool is placed on the higher plane, creating a reflecting vista towards the feature clubhouse, which is furnished for the residents’ enjoyment.
The water element then breaks down into cascading pools in the sunken half, with large planters interspersed to appear as floating landscapes, and culminates in a tranquil reflective pool and shaded court shared with the other communal facilities of the clubhouse. Spatially, each apartment is provided with a balcony or private enclosed space stretching across the entire length of the unit, thus extending the interiors to the outdoors.
These intermediate spaces are finished in timber, allowing the palette of natural materials and colours to flow from private to communal spaces. The interaction of the living spaces with the lush gardens and water courts engenders a sensuous engagement with the elements, resulting in a calming, peaceful environment.
