Good Class Bungalow at Andrew Road, SIngapore
As is the case in many countries, Singapore’s residential architecture can no longer rely on idyllic sites and spectacular views to inform its spaces. The scarcity of land for private houses has led to a reality of less-than-perfect plots. Although surrounded by heavy greenery along the perimeter of one of the nation’s mature nature reserves, this house is also situated at a major vehicular intersection along a busy and noisy highway. A D Lab addressed this quandary by lowering the public facilities around a sunken garden that focuses the views inward. From this private oasis, angled views of the reservoir’s treetops create context while the noise of the highway is largely muffled. The ground form is conceptually lifted and peeled upward to channel wind and light into the central garden where a swimming pool helps to cool down the space from the intense tropical sun.
From the urban context, the design gives back to the street the landscape lost as a result of the development. A D Lab kept the built form low and ground-hugging by making the undulating turf-covered roof appear as a continuation of the landform. Understated from the outside, the internal spatial expression of this peeled-up roof creates the sensation of an enlarging and grand internal room that simultaneously leads the eyes upward to the sky as well as downward to the intimate central gardens below.