88 CRW
2001 | Singapore | Residential
An architecture of phenomena.
Beyond addressing our client’s aspirations and the practical considerations of the site, the architecture of this house is about the engendering of phenomena—as in Steven Holl’s observation of phenomenology:
‘Phenomenology, in dealing with questions of perception, encourages us to experience architecture by walking through it, touching it, listening to it. “Seeing things” requires slipping into a world below the everyday neurosis of the functioning world.’
A low pavilion, conceived of as a solid masonry base,
is placed in the foreground so the volume behind is given the freedom of being a more transparent volume.
The upper level is clad in curtain walling, its glassiness reflecting back —giving back— the surrounding treescape. Boundaries, almost erased in the see-through low fence and large picture windows, confidently establish the house’s connection with its site.
The assembly of proportioned volumes, transparency, and mass, all counterbalanced, bring calm and serenity. But it is the very materiality of the house that is memorable; heavily textured stone, grained timber, plastered walls and cool glass give tactile contrast and ask to be felt.
Whether it is footsteps on the timber floorboard, a hand against warmed stone, or a glimpse of smooth glass holding the reflection of swaying trees, the house offers its observant inhabitant its everyday, and therefore most moving, phenomena.
