Beyond The Surface

THIS NEW HOUSE in Bukit Timah has attracted its share of gawkers, and it's not surprising why. From the outside, it seems to be comprised of just one single spatial volume set back from a large balcony. Where are the windows, glass doors and stratification of floors that characterise many of its neighbouring homes?

Designed by architect Wu Yen Yen of Genome Architects, this corner terrace is anything but airless and claustrophobic inside, despite its opaque exterior. On the contrary, her design provides this family home of five with spacious and airy quarters that adopt an eco-friendly approach to cooling as well. However, how the house achieves all this is only evident on the inside.

"You can't tell how many floors there are from looking at the façade," says Ms Wu of the 3,900 sq ft, four-storey house. This was intentional on her part, to circumvent the usual wedding cake-style architecture of multi-storey homes. The form of the building is also a natural consequence of the heat-mitigating measures Ms Wu employed to prevent the west-facing home from getting too hot for …