BALI. A PERENNIAL FAVOURITE AMONG Singapore holidaymakers. How many have fallen for the island’s great natural beauty, its culture and the warmth of its people? Scores. How many have been so besotted by those charms that they decided to establish a second home there? More than a handful, if we were to hazard a guess.

Ian Chee is among that handful. The 57-year-old London-trained architect and founder of VX Design had grown fond of Bali since working on a villa commission in Seminyak in the early 2000s. Over the years, his network of friends on the island, both Indonesian and international, grew.

Chee found himself spending more and more time in Bali, to a point where it made sense to set up a secondary residence. Keen to sidestep the hustle and bustle of Seminyak and Canggu, he looked further afield to the black sand beaches of Blahbatuh, a 40-minute drive from the airport and a 30-minute journey from the lush rice terraces of Ubud.

There, on the quiet, tourist-free shores of Saba Beach, he found a plot of freehold land 4,750 square metres in size. Corn fields, banana trees and coconut groves grew in the area. Cattle grazed freely. On occasion, local families would come to bathe in the sea or picnic on the beach, snacking on roasted corn. “The boys would play football while the girls would be lined up on the side picking out boyfriends,” says Chee. “It was all very rustic and lovely.” He was smitten.

That was in 2015. Because foreigners can’t own property outright in Bali, Chee purchased the land under his company, ODDSpace, which he registered in Indonesia. Chee spent the next two years developing his holiday home, working with local builders and craftsmen. The idea was to build a few houses, keep one for himself, and sell the rest.

By 2017, three two-storey dwellings had sprung up: Rumah Panggung (Stage House), Rumah Panjang (Long House) and Rumah Sandiwara (Drama House). With each house boasting its own garden and pool, and 11 bedrooms in all, they were collectively branded as caSabama to function as holiday rentals. Panggung was sold to a friend from the UK “practically at cost”.

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Chee toggles between all three houses when he visits every month – unless they are booked out – but he has a preference for Sandiwara as his piano is placed there. Occupancy rates average 30 per cent to 35 per cent year-round, he shares. “We make enough to cover staff and maintenance costs.”

Life in Bali

In Singapore, Chee shares a ground floor flat in Tiong Bahru with his 14-year-old pug, Bama. On each trip to Bali, he spends up to a month living and working on the island. His office, which is located onsite, currently has one staff, although he’s looking to expand. caSabama itself is staffed by a 10-member team, most of whom live in nearby villages.

His life in Bali is not all that different from his life in Singapore. A typical day sees him working from 9.30 am to 5 pm or 6 pm, before taking his two other dogs (KimChi, a local rescue, and MoChi, a gift from his staff) out for a walk on the beach, and then having dinner with, or entertaining, friends later in the evening. Sometimes he cooks; mostly, his chef takes care of the meals. For bigger gatherings, food is catered. Thrice a week, his personal trainer comes to coach him at the property’s communal gym.

With their open plans and generous living areas, the houses are primed for entertaining. Poolside drinks seamlessly segue to dining table mains before guests glide over to the piano. There, Chee plays a repertoire of Gershwin, Bacharach or Cole Porter ditties. The evening gets livelier if there’s a singer in the group.

“I generally like open living spaces and quarters,” Chee shares. “The living spaces are large and they spill into the garden. When we have too many people, we move the tables into the garden, or move (furniture) around and have a party. In one of our parties, we had three settings for the evening, and about 30 or 40 guests. We had cocktails in one house, moved on to dinner in another house, and in the last one, there was dancing. You feel like you’ve gone out!”

Chee was also inspired by the communal living style of traditional Balinese villages, which feature houses clustered around a central courtyard and the elders’ quarters oriented towards the mountains. “I like the idea of mimicking the indigenous housing,” he says. Master suites are positioned to take advantage of views of Mount Agung, while living spaces are organised around the garden and pool.

As a modernist architect, Chee adheres to the principles of streamlined functionality. Rooms are regular-shaped and thoughtfully proportioned. Lines are crisp and clean. Columns are slender. The joinery is sleek and pared-back. There are hardly any superfluous details.

Sustainability, too, was a primary consideration. “We tried to reduce our carbon footprint, so the materials are primarily locally sourced,” he explains. “The roofs are sirap (ironwood) shingles, the floors are cement tiles from Yogyakarta, the marble tiles are from Lampung, the windows and ceilings are merbau, the furniture – where it’s wooden – is teak.”

For the next stage of caSabama’s development, Chee is planning to construct Rumah Main (Party House), a purpose-built destination venue. “Now that I’ve run (the three houses) as holiday rentals, what I find lacking… is a party house,” he explained. “Some guests want to throw a birthday party or a small wedding ceremony for 100 people. We’ve had people build temporary structures and rearrange all my furniture, but that’s not ideal.”

The idea is for Rumah Main to house a commercial kitchen to cater to 100 guests; a roof garden with sea views to conduct ceremonies; and a spacious lawn for guests to sprawl out on. But Chee doesn’t have a fixed timeline for this project. Like the fluidity that characterises caSabama, it will happen in its own time.