House Of Surprises

OVER THE COURSE of their 23-year marriage, the owners of this house have moved several times but this is the first house they have built from scratch. The couple - she is a private banker while he is an equity adviser - had previously been living in apartments. But as the family grew bigger and the kids older (the three kids are now aged 12 to 20), they found themselves needing more space.

The house hunting process took a while - what with finding the right location and the right land size at the right price. At the same time, the couple, in their search for an architect, went around looking at newly completed houses and those under construction. ''Funnily enough, every house that we liked was by RT+Q Architects, so we knew we had to hire them for our home,'' says the missus.

She adds: ''We liked Rene Tan's approach to architecture. He looks at architecture like art rather than a project.''