Conference, 22 May 2012.
2 ‘Material Matters’, Indesign No. 56, March/May 2014, p. 193.
3 More than 74 per cent of the Singaporean population is ethnically Chinese, of whom over 34 per cent claim to be Buddhist, 10 per cent Taoist and 16 per cent Christian. However, Confucianism acts as a unifying ethical force, best exemplified by a powerful governmental ideology of social responsibility and inclusiveness that places social values above individual preferences.
4 Roxana Waterson, The Living House: An Anthropology of Architecture in South-East Asia, Singapore: Tuttle reprint, 2009; first published Singapore: Oxford University Press, 1990, p. xv.
5 The term was originally used in William Lim and Tan Hock Beng’s pioneering study, Contemporary Vernacular: Evoking Tradition in Asian Architecture, Singapore: Select Books, 1998.
6 Waterson, The Living House, p. xvi.
TANGLIN HILL HOUSE
ECO:ID ARCHITECTS
Long section.
‘Our brief to Boon was a very simple one: Give us a space that we can grow old in and where our friends can come visit in their shorts and flip-flops without ever feeling out of place. But, at the same time, a place where the artist, if he were to visit our house, will not feel that we have disrespected his work.’—OWNER
From across the pool, the house seems to dissolve into the landscape.
Well known for its high quality hospitality design, eco:id Architects restricts its residential work to clients for whom it feels a close affinity. It reminds me of the novel Elective Affinities by the great German author Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, which takes its name from the theory of chemical affinities whereby certain compounds only interact with each other under specific circumstances. In the case of architect Sim Boon Yang and his client, there were a number of affinities between them, the strongest being art. Both collect art, but art of a certain kind, art which is ‘neither ostentatious nor superfluous’, in the words of the client, art predominantly from Asia and art with a delicate balance between the aesthetic and the functional.
The client, a boutique developer of high-end houses, and eco:id had worked together before on a number of projects, to the extent that he and his wife now enjoy a friendship with Sim and his wife. The affinities which sustain this friendship go beyond art to include a love of gardens, of a connection between inside and outside and of a relaxed and informal lifestyle.
Entry to the house is at the top of a steep hill and gives no suggestion of what lies beyond.
The garden is the heart of this house. It is not clear whether the well-established and relaxed tropical garden embraces the house or whether the house embraces the garden. The U-shaped building—actually a cluster of three connected pavilions—wraps around the garden, with the long swimming pool forming an edge to the garden and a row of mature trees screening the property wall. At night, adroitly placed lighting creates reflections of the trees in the water and, looking down from the upper levels of the house, the garden seems to dissolve into one grand and darkly luminous space.
A screened deck blocks the master bedroom at one end of the pool.
In order to entertain friends in a completely informal way and in the knowledge that people tend to congregate around the kitchen, a large open kitchen and family room are situated with direct access to the garden and pool. Hence, this ‘heart of the house’ becomes not just a generous public gathering place but also a destination.
Like any good destination, this one also has an arrival sequence, with glimpses along the way of what is to come. The first of the three pavilions on the street side is self-contained, with a living room and study on the ground floor and the master bedroom and bathroom on the second storey. Entry to the house is down a path past the study and through a courtyard and down the outside flank of the grand living and dining space, giving the visitor initial views through to the garden. It is also an introduction to the clients’ extraordinary art collection, which is not so much displayed as blended into the spaces it inhabits. This journey of arrival now doglegs around the dining space before bringing the visitor to the kitchen and the informal public domain.
Plans.
The wet areas continue the theme of living in a natural tropical paradise.
Public and private areas are clearly separated, with the bedrooms all upstairs on the second storey and attic levels. To sustain the connection with nature and also provide a private area of respite, the master bedroom is surrounded by a pond with aquatic plants. ‘This space,’ says the client, ‘has now become a huge bird bath and we wake up every morning to the chirping of many birds—and, periodically, to the rummaging of a resident stork!’
The private domain continues on the attic level, with a family room and two bedrooms, one of which extends to an open roof terrace where the family can relax over a drink and enjoy dramatic views.
The client and architect worked closely together on the design of the house, although the main idea was established right at the very beginning. ‘Both Boon and I,’ says the client, ‘took one look at the site and we both knew intuitively what should be done on it.’ Key to the design was the art collection because, just as the garden is totally integrated with the house, so the art collection is also fully integrated into the house. An important aspect was the understanding that the house needed to be home not just to an existing collection but one that would continue to grow. The solution to this—a similar solution to that in Boon Sim Yang’s own home (see the Bamboo Curtain House, page 162)—was to provide a ‘blank canvas’, in other words, a transparent context in which the art remained autonomous and not in competition with the house.
The breakfast pavilion is fully transparent and connected to the garden.
An enclosed courtyard supports the theme of a house wrapped around the garden.
The deck off the breakfast pavilion seems to float over the pool.
Looking back towards the front of the house and the private domain.
The
