ALL ABOUT THE ANGLES
Slanted edges and sharp corners give this house a dramatic facade.
The slanted edges and sharp corners that define the dramatic facade of this house were an architectural risk that has paid off handsomely.
This house, tucked in a quiet neighbourhood in northeastern Singapore, is hard to ignore, standing out as it does from the other more conventional-looking bungalows along the same street. Its distinctive facade with unnaturally sharp angles is reminiscent of Zaha Hadid’s early work, conjuring up ideas of speed and sleek urbanity.
“The clients were clear that they didn’t want anything boring,” says Robin Tan of Wallflower Architecture and Design. “They wanted something outstanding, something with street presence.”
For Tan, architecture always starts with site planning and the sloping plot of land had its own particular set of characteristics that dictated certain design decisions. Elevated 4m above ground, the plot allowed for site space to be increased by a full 5,000 sq ft, as the driveway and carpark could be neatly tucked underground.
But the density of the neighbourhood, with houses crammed in together, led to a sense of a lack of both space and privacy. “There is a tall structure on one side, and an old house on the other side which would in time also be built up, so the idea was to be defensive, with ‘shields’, and to look inwards. And this formed the basis of how the house was designed, to handle the future,” explains Tan. The result is a U-shaped structure, with the public spaces for dining, living and entertaining on the ground floor, pivoting around the central pool.
After that, Tan turned his attention to the look of the house, which became a highly collaborative process
“TO ME, GOOD DESIGN IS SOMETHING WHICH PROVIDES SOLUTIONS TO SEVERAL PROBLEMS AT ONCE.” ROBIN TAN, WALLFLOWER ARCHITECTURE AND DESIGN