Above Ground

IF YANG YEO HAD HIS WAY, the nature-lover would be living out in the open surrounded by lush greenery. Maybe even in a tree house.

Instead, the co-chief creative officer of an advertising firm lives in a two-storey house in Seletar. But not a typical house, mind you. He describes it as a modern day kampong house which stands above ground supported by 'stilts' - in this case, strong slim pillars, and surrounded by greenery with lots of trees and space to plant herbs. "Right from the start, I wanted to maximise the green plot ratio for this house," says Mr Yeo.

Because of the sloping nature of the land, the team at ip:li architects came up with the idea of lifting the house - 2.2m in front and 5.7m at the back. "This way, we could take advantage of the site terrain, creating steps and smaller platforms to break up the space and make the scale more intimate," says associate Tay Yew.