This project counters the condition of a deep building by the use of long penetrating sightlines through the house. An existing semi-detached house on the site was to be reconstructed. The land steps down by a full storey midway through, such that the entrance is taken from the upper ground level, called the 1st storey as the lower ground level at the rear was counted as the basement. The rear of the house faced a small forest of tall pong-pong trees which buffered it from the busy road.
The house was too wide, at 10.5metres, for a semi-detached house, a house with 3 facades. With daylight unable to reach the inner part of the house, the original spaces were dark.
The spaces are organised as a thick layer of rooms wrapped around the central staircase space. In spite of the outer layer, daylight floods this central space through strategic channels like the roof clerestory, study atrium, and terrace. The study is a diagonal channel that interacts with the pitched roof and opens up a view to the road at an interesting angle.
We tore out part of the second storey slab to make a double-height living room on the basement level that shared the view of the pong-pong with the entrance level. The effect is such that one can see right through the length of the house upon entering.
The exterior is designed to accentuate the horizontal to contrast against the variation of the ground. On the top band, brick is laid at 45degrees with protruding steel frames forming the fenestration.
This project counters the condition of a deep building by the use of long penetrating sightlines through the house. An existing semi-detached house on the site was to be reconstructed. The land steps down by a full storey midway through, such that the entrance is taken from the upper ground level, called the 1st storey as the lower ground level at the rear was counted as the basement. The rear of the house faced a small forest of tall pong-pong trees which buffered it from the busy road.
The house was too wide, at 10.5metres, for a semi-detached house, a house with 3 facades. With daylight unable to reach the inner part of the house, the original spaces were dark.
The spaces are organised as a thick layer of rooms wrapped around the central staircase space. In spite of the outer layer, daylight floods this central space through strategic channels like the roof clerestory, study atrium, and terrace. The study is a diagonal channel that interacts with the pitched roof and opens up a view to the road at an interesting angle.
We tore out part of the second storey slab to make a double-height living room on the basement level that shared the view of the pong-pong with the entrance level. The effect is such that one can see right through the length of the house upon entering.
The exterior is designed to accentuate the horizontal to contrast against the variation of the ground. On the top band, brick is laid at 45degrees with protruding steel frames forming the fenestration.
This project counters the condition of a deep building by the use of long penetrating sightlines through the house. An existing semi-detached house on the site was to be reconstructed. The land steps down by a full storey midway through, such that the entrance is taken from the upper ground level, called the 1st storey as the lower ground level at the rear was counted as the basement. The rear of the house faced a small forest of tall pong-pong trees which buffered it from the busy road.
The house was too wide, at 10.5metres, for a semi-detached house, a house with 3 facades. With daylight unable to reach the inner part of the house, the original spaces were dark.
The spaces are organised as a thick layer of rooms wrapped around the central staircase space. In spite of the outer layer, daylight floods this central space through strategic channels like the roof clerestory, study atrium, and terrace. The study is a diagonal channel that interacts with the pitched roof and opens up a view to the road at an interesting angle.
We tore out part of the second storey slab to make a double-height living room on the basement level that shared the view of the pong-pong with the entrance level. The effect is such that one can see right through the length of the house upon entering.
The exterior is designed to accentuate the horizontal to contrast against the variation of the ground. On the top band, brick is laid at 45degrees with protruding steel frames forming the fenestration.