How can a house built on the footprint of an old inward-focused home facilitate a dialogue with its surroundings? Take a peek at our Cubes 85 feature to see how Materium and Dangarch Consultants answer with an experiential internal passage and a series of openings.
Location, location, location – this house is blessed with a great one. Its neighbourhood of semi-detached homes is quiet, despite its proximity to a sprawling HDB estate. It is nestled across the road from a small park populated with mature rain trees. And behind it, the lush hills of the nearby nature reserve paint the skyline green.
“That was the first thing we noticed about the old house – the park in the front and the hill in the rear. How could we connect these green spaces through the house? That became the main design idea of the new house,” says Kelvin Lim, founder of design studio Materium.
The idea has been materialised in the Through House – a three-storey family home that Materium designed in collaboration with Dangarch Consultants. The family of four had been living in the same location for over 18 years. The parents decided to renovate the existing two-storey semi-detached house to create more space for their now-adult children and to cater to the family’s social lifestyle.
The new house stands out in its neighbourhood, having maximised the allowed height. The existing house was gutted out; its structure was partially retained and reinforced to support a third storey and a new roof. According to Lim, integrating the new design scheme with this existing structure was the biggest challenge in the project. The designers worked within this constraint to create an internal passage that brings the best of the outside world – light, air and views – indoors.
Read the full story in Cubes 85! Photography by Daniel Swee (Visual Peak), courtesy of Materium.
A searchable and comprehensive guide for specifying leading products and their suppliers
The internet never sleeps! Here's the stuff you might have missed
From global icons to local heroes, these international names are ready to cast their eye over the region’s top award program!
Get ready for an unforgettable design event on 15 & 16 March. Here’s all the fun you wouldn’t want to miss out on at this year’s Singapore Indesign Intimate.
Vario cooling 400 series wine storage by Gaggenau unveil the ultimate blend of utility and luxury, underpinned by sleek design, ideal for any modern kitchen.
The Living Space category at the 2023 INDE.Awards showcases homes that are innovative, multi-detailed and beautifully resolved. This category affords the chance to explore what makes a house a perfect home and sets the bar high for residential design right across the Indo-Pacific region.