It may seem like heavily developed cities don’t have a lot of room for more greenery, but Singapore is proving there are all kinds of ways to integrate it, even within skyscrapers. CapitaSpring by Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) and Carlo Ratti Associati is the latest project to bring beautiful vegetation to Singapore’s extremely dense urban fabric.

Standing over 918 feet tall, CapitaSpring incorporates an incredible 80,000 plants spread across its 51 floors. These green spaces offer a “seamless transition between the garden and the city,” with lushly planted oases concentrated at the base, core, and roof of the building.

“As someone with Singaporean heritage, I have been honored and humbled by the opportunity to contribute to the ongoing evolution of architecture in Singapore as a distinct blending between the contemporary and the tropical,” says Brian Yang, Partner in Charge of BIG. “In our design, this manifests as a seamless transition between the garden and the city, articulated in the facades and a series of lush spiraling gardens connecting between various programs and filled with amenities representing a spectrum of use.”

“Our design seeks to continue Singapore’s pioneering vertical urbanism with the 2800-meter tall diverse neighborhood of places to work, live, and play inside as well as outside,” says Bjarke Ingels, Founding Partner of BIG. “Due to the unique character of Singapore’s urbanism — both extremely dense and green — we decided to make the design a vertical exploration of tropical urbanism. At grade, the street is closed to form a new linear park and public plaza.”

Ingels adds that “a vertical park in the middle of the tower forms a spiraling promenade ascending among tropical tree trunks and canopies. On top, an urban forest feeds all the restaurants and cafés in the building and allows visitors to enjoy the lushness of the summit.”

The lower eight floors of the building contain residences with amenities like a swimming pool, jogging track, gym, jacuzzi, lounge, social kitchen, and barbecue pits. The upper 29 floors contain premium office spaces. The “Green Oasis” is in between, an open-air garden where residents, office workers, and visitors can all stroll around, gather, and relax.

Singapore is one of the 100 most crowded cities in the world, with a population of about 6 million. It’s also one of the greenest. In 1965, in the aftermath of British colonial rule, Singaporean leaders decided the nation-state would focus on becoming a “Garden City,” prioritizing green spaces and creative ways to introduce plants to the urban environment.

With limited land supply, Singapore builds upwards, encouraging architects and developers to allow skyscrapers and gardens to intertwine. Projects like Marina Bay Sands, Raffles City, Changi Airport, and now CapitaSpring serve as role models for the world, demonstrating the value of creative green spaces in growing cities.

The post BIG and Carlo Ratti Complete a Beautiful Biophilic Skyscraper in Singapore first appeared on Dornob.

Albert Zhang, founder and CEO of AiTreat, began his career as a trained TCM physician. He quickly found that delivering treatments was “tedious and repetitive.” He began formulating the idea of EMMA as a way for doctors to use their time more efficiently.

“One physician can only see one patient at a time, but with EMMA, the physician can operate two robots and see up to four patients simultaneously,” he told CNN.

While he doesn’t intend for robots to replace professional masseuses, Zhang says they can do the majority of the massage therapy, allowing their human counterparts to “focus on the 10 percent highly skilled part” and saving them from the exhausting strain on their muscles throughout the day.

“By using Emma to do the labor-intensive massages, we can now offer a longer therapy session for patients while reducing the cost of treatment,” said Zhang in the Robotics Business Review, adding that “the human therapist is then free to focus on other areas such as the neck and limb joints, which EMMA can’t massage at the moment.”

And EMMA can replicate human touch in her massage movements quite convincingly. Using sensors and 3D vision technology, the machine measures muscle stiffness and identifies pressure points. Having been programmed with thousands of data points like various body shapes and sizes and massage types, the AI machine can develop a custom regimen tailored to each patient’s meridian and acupoints. EMMA’s robotic arm also moves extremely methodically, with soft touch treatment modules warmed to a comfortable range of 100 to 104 degrees Fahrenheit.

“The principle of traditional Chinese medicine is all about personalized treatments,” Zhang explains, stressing that his smart machine is “highly flexible and customizable.”

As an added safety measure, the force exerted by EMMA is limited to a maximum of 100 Newtons, or “an impact that will feel no more painful than getting struck by an [elevator] door (commonly 150 Newtons),” the company website assures. And patients always have complete control over the robot during the massage. They can adjust the strength of the movements as well as stop the treatment immediately at any point.

Zhang’s massage robot has been operating for over four years now, with 11 functioning versions of EMMA at eight different clinics in Singapore. To gain widespread acceptance of the AI masseuse, he is planning to conduct clinical trials in Germany, China, and Singapore to test her medical efficacy. He is already seeing great interest from practitioners in China and the US.

“I think it’s only the beginning,” says Zhang. “I can see that with support from the physicians, from different countries, the robot will be better and better, and more and more people will benefit from this robotic technology.”

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The project was commissioned by Swire Properties, who themselves are long-recognized for creating swanky residential structures and had previously worked with Heatherwick Studios on the Pacific Place mall in Hong Kong.

Set for completion in late 2019, this ultra-luxurious apartment building aims to meld with Singapore’s vision of a “city in a garden.” In most of the country’s other developments, the architecture either provides a yard or garden space inside itself or is made extremely compact so as to preserve the existing outdoor space.

“Eden,” as the project is dubbed, is a 20-story complex, with each individual apartment taking up an entire floor. In sharp contrast to typical apartment living, Eden offers both large, well-developed units and outdoor gardening and living space. Plus, each four-bedroom, 3,000-square-foot apartment comes with an unobstructed 270-degree view. Situated on a quiet side street in the country’s Orchard Road strip, the view of nearby Draycott Park can be enjoyed from the private hanging balconies that make up the bulk of the building’s facade.

Giving life to the concept of combining urban apartment living with nature, each balcony has its own built-in garden area. The goal was to think outside the confines of typical apartment building design in order to combine upscale city living with private outdoor space, a luxury that is becoming increasingly difficult to find in urban areas.

“Like most global cities, Singapore’s skyline is filled with angular steel and glass towers. With Swire Properties we wanted to create something distinctive that represents Singapore as a city in a garden, and recreate the verdant backyard access once ubiquitous across homes here. Instead of glass-clad edifices with token balconies, each home within ‘EDEN’ will have a lush garden right at the doorstep with organic and generous living spaces achieved by breaking up the traditional boxy floorplate,” Thomas Heatherwick, founder of Heatherwick Studio, explains.

The building’s design resembles a spinal column, with simple vertical rectilinear plains and slim windows forming the foundation and generous garden balconies situated in between to allow privacy in each apartment and a large, centralized living space in the center of each floor. And while it may not be as tall as other buildings in the area, the drapes of greenery that’ll soon be planted on each level will grow to form a stunning vertical garden. More specifically, the designers plan to use torch ginger, elephant ears, heliconias, and split leaf philodendrons to accentuate the garden feel.

While Eden’s balconies bring the private garden experience to apartment living, they’re far from the only extraordinary things about its design. For instance, the building skips the traditional boxy construction and instead embraces curved architecture, quite literally poured into shape from concrete. This concrete has also been imprinted with a topographic map of Singapore as a reminder of the surrounding city island.

Eden has already earned a Green Mark Platinum rating from Singapore’s Building and Construction Authority (BCA), with natural ventilation stemming from its well-thought-out window placement and solar shading.

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What better way to welcome visitors to a place known for its clever integration of architecture and plant life than a jaw-dropping feature like this? Imagine stepping off of a plane feeling parched and haggard after a long international flight and walking right into a temperate jungle with a 131-foot waterfall at its center, streaming out of a massive hole in the ceiling like something from a sci-fi movie. Conceived of by water feature design firm WET in collaboration with Safdie Architects, the cataract will stand as the centerpiece of ‘”Forest Valley,” the airport’s new indoor garden.

Set beneath a massive glass dome, the forest will be planted in a series of tiers to resemble a hilly landscape. In the space of 1.4 million square feet, this sprawling urban park will house a series of elevated walkways, hiking trails, and rest areas alongside its retail, hotel, restaurant, and entertainment facilities. To better blend in with the aesthetic, the dome will be supported by tree-like structural columns. After dark, the central waterfall will light up, cycling through an array of vivid colors as part of a choreographed LED light show.

“The project redefines and reinvents what airports are all about,” says architect Moshe Safdie. “Our goal was to bring together the duality of a vibrant marketplace and a great urban park side-by-side in a singular and immersive experience. The component of the traditional mall is combined with the experience of nature, culture, education and recreation, aiming to provide an uplifting experience. By drawing both visitors and local residents alike, we aim to create a place where the people of Singapore interact with the people of the world.”

You might be thinking that this whole thing looks like a colossal waste of natural resources or that the humidity created by the waterfall would fog the dome’s glass up, but Forest Valley’s designers and engineers have already thought those potential kinks through. To maintain the waterfall and its surrounding vegetation, the Jewel Changi will be equipped a rainwater harvesting system. After conducting a series of airflow studies, the architects were able to come up with a design for the dome that prevents humid air from accumulating around the cascade. The airport extension is currently under construction and is expected to reach completion in 2019.

Surely, any layovers or delays you experience at this airport will be some of the best you’ve ever had to endure. Maybe one day, people will even start going to the airport for fun.

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Close your eyes and envision the most relaxing tropical paradise residence you can possibly imagine. What do you picture? Maybe your ultimate retreat features multiple swimming pools, gardens, balconies, aquariums, and lounge chairs to spare. But no matter how lush and luxurious your fantasy might be, it’s probably got nothing on the real-life creations of Guz Architects. This Singapore-based firm takes advantage of the island’s temperate climate to design homes that integrate nature into interior spaces in virtually every way, from rooftop gardens to reflecting pools that travel under glass walls and into living rooms.

Each home is a tropical oasis with greenery dripping down walls, trees growing up through atriums that open to the sky, glittering water speckled with water lilies and other aquatic plants, boulders, and vibrant green lawns. Some designs, like Willow House in Singapore, feature jaw-dropping swimming pools with glass walls that make turquoise waters part of the living space, with interior windows of subterranean spaces looking into the depths of the pool.

Cluny House has a swimming pool visually merging into a water garden dotted with grassy islands, set beside two pavilions on an L-shaped plan. Elsewhere, the spectacular Fish House offers a green-roofed, glassed-in pavilion jutting out over the swimming pool to take in views of the ocean. And Sun House uses ponds and a pool to passively cool the building, and tucks a courtyard into the interior for privacy, serving as one of the firm’s best examples of “how architecture immerses itself into nature,” as they explain.

“Situated onto an irregular landscape, the building took on the design of an L-shape. With the project designed in this manner, this allowed the building to make use of the vast green landscape surrounding the house making the focal point the pond and the luscious greenery. We were able to create an open courtyard which was private but still with a feeling of openness with good vies and airflow.”

Nearly all of these homes boast split-level floor plans with sections that overlap in unconventional ways to take advantage of views of the pools, gardens, and scenery beyond the borders of the properties. Many are open to the fresh air, promoting cross-ventilation and offering a seamless transition between the living areas and the homes’ many terraces and balconies.

Guz Architects’ commitment to a balance with nature goes far beyond simply designing beautiful indoor/outdoor homes, too. While many other architects and developers might not give much thought to the ecology of the site itself, Guz considers how their designs will impact the land and the local environment, and their homes are full of sustainable design features and practices. The firm also puts their money where their mouth is when it comes to environmental responsibility.

“As architects we believe that we should help neutralize the effect of global warming incurred by our projects by planting trees wherever possible,” they say. “As a company we have purchased land in the UK and New Zealand, and so far have planted over 3200 trees. We make donations to World Land Trust to preserve existing rainforest; and also Greenpeace who are active in helping prevent deforestation globally.”

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A glass sky bridge and a series of other bridges unite two halves of a striking ultramodern concrete home in Singapore. The 66MRN House by local firm ONG&ONG divides the social areas of the home from the private spaces and ‘service functions’ like the kitchen. These spaces are further distinguished by variations in color and texture, with the communal areas clad in granite and the rest of the home in a tactile ribbed concrete.

The various functions merge together into a whole on the ground floor, united by stone steps in a serene reflecting pool. A three-story atrium reaches up to pull sunlight into this space, with bridges on the two upper levels.

Each half of the home rises into a gable shape, paying homage to traditional residential architecture while flouting it at the same time. Rooftop gardens look out onto the surrounding neighborhood.

More from the architects

“Just off Stevens Road is this Zen-inspired dwelling with strong architectural lines and shapes that are further accentuated by the materials used. Comprising two main volumes, the front block houses the social spots, such as the living and formal dining areas, whilst service functions are relegated to the back, along with the kitchen. Although visually similar, the blocks are distinguished by texture – the social activity block is clad in granite and the service block in fare-faced concrete.”

“The design brief called for all spaces on the ground floor to form a cohesive whole so that when all doors are open on the ground floor, the individual spaces merge into a one – starting from the lap pool and garden at the entrance, to the living room in the front block and all the way to the kitchen in the rear block. A reflective pool divides the two main blocks and sits at the base of a sheer three-storey-high void that reaches the roof. This void forms the home’s visual and spatial centre and also works as a means of drawing up hot air so that the cooler air can rush in to keep temperatures low.”

The post A Glass Sky Bridge Unites Two Halves of an Amazing Concrete Home first appeared on Dornob.

If the lines between outdoors and in were any more blurred in this gorgeous greenery-laden Singapore home, it would be less of a residence and more of a public park. Willow House by Guz Architects has a wide-open floor plan that integrates ponds, swimming pools, shallow reflecting pools, and more than one ‘oculus’ allowing trees to grow from one level up to the next.

The home is contemporary yet harmonious with its natural surroundings in a minimal Zen-inspired style consisting of muted gray stone and warm wood contrasting with crisp black and white elements. The swimming pool has glass walls, making the cool blue-green of the water a major visual element when viewed from the lawn.

Outdoor lounge spaces look out onto islands of ferns in the water, cascades of vines, water fountains, and of course, several willow trees. The wood beams supporting the cantilevered roof mimic the shape of tree branches, and the roof itself is covered in lush greenery.

Contemporary Singaporean architecture is unique in both the nature-influenced style of the architecture itself and the way in which the tropical landscape is incorporated right into the home’s indoor/outdoor spaces. This home is reminiscent of the Wall House by FARM, which also has large round openings in the upper levels that make room for the growing branches of trees planted below.

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The feel of living in a lush, overgrown jungle is captured in the suburbs with greenery on virtually every surface, a koi pond and a rooftop pool at this residence by Aamer Architects. Located in Singapore, the luxurious modern home echoes the tropical character of the island with dark-stained wood, palm trees and climbing vines.

Completed as a follow-up to two identical homes the architect previously designed for an advertising executive and his two children, Garden Villa features outdoor spaces that have been elevated above the surrounding two-story bungalows for unparalleled views.

The swimming pool features a glass wall on one side, and a partially glassed floor that functions as a skylight for the courtyard below. Part of the roof is planted with grass and flowering shrubs in a small garden hosting a grill and picnic table. A metal pergola offers privacy on one side of the house, and shade for the pool area.

Architect Aamer Taher is known for designing spaces for the tropics that integrate the outdoors with gardens, air flow and natural light while remaining clean and contemporary. Taher views design as “finding an ideal solution to the combination of factors that include site, culture and climate, structure and services with an economy of means to arrive at an aesthetic whole.”

“Aamer Taher established his Studio in 1994, two years upon his return to Singapore from London, where he trained in the Architectural Association School of Architecture and practiced with several firms including the prestigious Michael Hopkins and Associates. He is a former council member of the Singapore Institute of Architects (SIA) and he was a part-time design tutor in the School of Architecture at the National University of Singapore (NUS).”

“AAMER remain a cutting-edge boutique design firm providing a one stop full range 1 of architectural design and professional services including master planning, interior and landscape design with a dedicated team of professionals.”

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A two-story courtyard featuring an oculus for six willow trees, surrounded by a peaceful reflecting pool on the upper level, provides a sense of separation between the homes of a retired couple and one of their adult children. Located in Singapore, the Wall House by FARM is technically one residence with two separate, self-contained ‘blocks’ of living space linked at the living and dining areas by a granite patio.

The upper levels of both volumes are planted with grass, flowers and small trees, providing a sunny spot to relax, while the lower level of the courtyard stays cool and shady. While the balconies and terraces off the bedrooms of the top floors face each other, they remain separated.

The lower courtyard is a communal dining space leading to a shared library, and the separate living and dining spaces, kitchens and guest rooms of each home. One unit features an additional study with its own private living room, and the other has a gym.

The green roofs, a number of water features and lots of wood and stone give the homes a feeling of connection with nature despite the city setting. Throughout the private spaces on the bottom floor, narrow courtyards open to the sky above placed beside expanses of glass let natural light flood in.

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A dark and dreary ‘shoebox flat’ in Singapore is virtually unrecognizable after undergoing a modern renovation that uses mirrors and lots of white to visually multiply the space available. KNQ Associates renovated the 550-square-foot one-bedroom apartment into a bright and orderly, “chic and functional semi-bachelorette pad” for a woman living with her mother.

The before pictures depict a typical small apartment of the sort that can be found all over Singapore, smaller residential units that have become more popular in recent years. Lacking adequate storage and organization, the micro apartment was cluttered and out of date. This space-saving renovation transforms it into a modern, light-filled space that’s much more pleasant to inhabit.

KNQ constructed a white wall-mounted storage unit in the hallway that conceals unsightly objects, and similar cabinets were placed in both the living room and bedroom. Mirrored walls make the space seem much larger than it is, and multipurpose furniture like a bench that stores shoes offer comfort and functionality.

A utility room located off the kitchen is now a peaceful workspace that even has room to nap on a sleeping platform with storage both above and below. The tiny bedroom, shared by mother and daughter, features two twin beds given a bit of privacy and separation by a wardrobe. The color scheme of white, pale wood, gray and pops of bright blue and yellow play up the tranquil vibe of the new space.

“A self-made lady should have a beautiful and hardworking home too,” say the architects. “It is with that belief that we made sure each piece of customized furniture serves more than one function. A lengthy white, wall-mounted storage unit conceals messy cables and multitasks as a whimsical light source apart from its intended use in the hall. Joining up to this unit is a shoe bench which doubles up as additional seating for guests while holding shoes down below. This multipurpose idea extends into the bedroom which the owner shares with her mum, where a partition that comes in the form of a wardrobe divides the tiny room in such a way as to offer each person her own personal space.”

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So close and yet so far. Not that this remodel isn’t impressive as it stands, but these bookshelf-shaped rails that wrap the central staircase demand more than just empty space, don’t you think? The latticework on the sculptural spiraling stairs is just crying out for stacks of books, or at least, it’s hard not to think so when you’re a bibliophile with an unwieldy collection.

Even though they may have left this opportunity for storage stairs untapped, the architects of FARM accomplished other admirable goals in the renovation, though, such as bringing light into and through the space: “The apartment has to feel as if it’s suffused with light. To do that, walls were knocked down to create an outdoor verandah area upon entry. Huge timber framed glass sliding doors are used to further increase light porosity. Generous amount of louvres are used at the rooftop to bring in more light to the mezzanine bedroom.”

“Taking a cue from concrete ventilation blocks found in old houses, we updated the look with a new custom-made pattern. This pattern is then abstracted and transformed again and brought into the living area via a laser-cut metal screen folding door.” Meanwhile,“the key unmissable feature in the apartment is the spiral staircase constructed entirely out of metal, spray-painted all glossy white, and with its balustrade in the dangerously-sexy form of a curving brick wall.”

True, it’s gorgeous on its own, and leaving it blank does help to highlight the elegance of its patterns. Those distinctive boxes in turn inform and highlight squares and rectangles of doorways, built-in shelving and rooms themselves – the pattern, once seen, becoming recognizable even where it was not intended to recur. An insistent visual rhythm results, picked up by light fixtures, wall tiles and more. Overall, this “Brick Loft” looks like a harmonious place to live.

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Tough restrictions on how much the building’s facade could be changed were not a problem for the renovators of this home in Singapore. Architects Ong & Ong managed to keep the building’s historic facade intact while creating an entirely new, updated interior for this modern renovation.

Perhaps the most striking single feature of the residence is the interior courtyard, complete with a swimming pool. Stepping stones lead between the living room and dining area on the first floor. This thoroughly modern space is delightfully bisected with a mature frangipani tree, creating a comfortable contrast between man-made and natural materials.

This space not only serves to define the interior spaces of the home; it adds some much-needed light and ventilation throughout the house. Partitions on either side of the pool can be closed to segment the space or opened to create one continuous room.

Lining the courtyard is aluminum wall cladding. These lightweight bands add a lovely modern touch to the courtyard, but they also serve the very practical purpose of reflecting light into the interior living spaces. The contrast between the building’s traditional ornate facade and these modern metallic bands sets the tone for this home full of dualities.

The entire second floor of the home’s main section is devoted to a massive combined master bedroom, office and en suite bathroom. Although full of light, this section of the house is softer and much more subdued than the first floor public areas.

Contrasting dark and light materials are used throughout the space, creating a comfortable retreat.

Dark walnut plank flooring leads to the en suite bathroom, which is contained in a sort of box which is cantilevered over the pool area. Directly across the courtyard from the bathroom, a rooftop deck adorns the other half of the home – allowing for a daring look right into the glass-walled room. A stunning sculpted stone bathtub is undoubtedly the crowning glory of the second floor.

Each element of this home renovation was carefully selected both for functionality and for looks. The natural elements perfectly offset the man-made modern elements. The twisted trunk of the frangipani tree echoes the curves of the dual spiral staircases. Glass and aluminum are balanced with natural wood and grasses.

The public living areas in the front of the home contain well-hidden electronics concealed by large pieces of art. Putting these distracting electronic toys behind a movable partition helps to preserve the serene modernity of the home.

The rear part of the home, which houses the kitchen and other service areas, is similarly smooth, modern, and free from clutter. The home’s overall effect is one of relaxation and a complete escape from the pressures of the outside world.

The post Serenity Now: Modern Renovation With a Peaceful Focus first appeared on Dornob.

Mixing regional vernacular, local climate needs and a curved contemporary look, this award-winning residence addresses its client desires architectural mandates with an amazing dynamism but strong sense of balance.

Master bedroom and family rooms occupy the third floor of this tropical rounded house to engage views of the valley and ocean below, while resort-style cabana guest rooms sit poolside on the more-private ground level.

On the outside, folding roof forms wrap and overhang breezeways, terraces, verandahs,  porches, decks and roof gardens, blending outside with insight and incorporating passive cooling and structural shading strategies throughout.

Inside, community, entertainment and dining rooms connect to these external spaces, while the most-enclosed areas are used for service and secondary functions (showers, toilets, pantries and the like).

Back and forth, curves shape everything from spatial forms to funnel-like entryways and overhead, ceiling-suspended, recessed-lighting panels, creating a sense of movement and a series of lovely transitions reflected even in the ground-shape forms of patios and pools.

On all sides, Aamer Architects added operable windows, large doors and swinging partitions to take maximum advantage of interior-to-exterior connections and natural ventilation opportunities.

“The magnificent views towards the city, from atop Siglap Hill, was what inspired the architecture and the design of the house. Placed on the third level, the master and family room have the best views. On the second level, the living and dining rooms connected with external verandahs/terraces that flow upwards and fold into the roof form, with deep overhangs for sufficient shade and channeling the breeze through the whole house.”

“Two resort style ‘Cabana’ bedrooms are located on the ground level by the pool with a large open/covered terrace for poolside parties. Roof gardens and timber decks provide added insulation from the sun.”

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Bordered on all sides (except the street) by three impenetrable walls, it is hard to imagine how one could get enough light and air into such an enclosed space. This design solution manages to do more than ‘make the most’ of the available square footage – it actually creates a comfortable, cross-ventilated, sky-lit dwelling out of a seemingly impossible spatial situation.

Thanks to the climate of Singapore, where this structure was designed by Formwerkz architects, a number of opportunities existed to help connect inhabitants with the world outside. Despite the closed-off boundary conditions, nearly every area of the home has access to natural air and light on at least one (if not two sides), as illustrated in this three-dimensional diagram.

The mixture of white walls, wood accents, granite built-ins, concrete furniture, pebbles and plant life make for a lively set of engaging interior elements.

Textured concrete walls soften the borders surrounding the site, while living plants throughout the spaces make even the most interior, closed-off bathrooms and bedrooms seem nearly outdoors.

A series of open-air, steel-mesh and windowed skylights and light wells draw daylight down into even the lowest floors of this multi-story residence.

Finally, a green rooftop deck at the top of the primary staircase and light well takes full advantage of the one direction in which people can view out from the side, as does a small front garden space.

“Beyond the ground-level communal spaces, at the ‘wall-less’ front of the dwelling, a layer of plants shields the space from the street for privacy,” say the architects. “The living space is also raised from the street level to minimize visibility. At the front, closely spaced, galvanized-steel grilles fold down from the car porch canopy as the entrance wall. Besides serving as the last line of security, these grilles are also an effective privacy veil. The transparency of the alleyway spaces is only fleetingly noticeable from the street when the dwelling is viewed head-on, blurring the boundary between the street and the ‘alleyway.'”

The post Alleyway House: Small Space Living on an Ultra-Narrow Lot first appeared on Dornob.

This Singapore home represents a remarkable way to approach a remodeling project: start not with one section, side or surface, but think of entire areas or rooms to leave alone – then new ‘pods’ to introduce in an additional layer of program spaces.

Perhaps the easiest way to understand the nature of this approach is not through photographs or drawings, but instead via a three-dimensional diagram that shows colored sections illustrating new parts and pieces inserted into the plan.

The various ‘pods’ involve different material and tonal themes (from warm wooden walls to custom-shaped windows) that set them apart from the existing building and one another. Intersections and gaps become the connective tissue between hallways, rooms and outdoor spaces, and changing materials make exploration and movement the focal points of experience.

The entrance area contains seating, shelves, storage and a staircase leading into the house; a utility pod features a suspended loft bed and small workspace; master bedroom has a bed, wardrobe ad television station; study is likewise a suspension space, with a reading platform and balcony; the bathroom pod has a vanity, toilet and shower.

Together, these new spaces work for the family-with-children that occupy it while leaving as-is the parts and places that are functioning fine already. The result viewed from any one angle may look simple and contemporary, but in terms of an approach to home additions it represents a surgical precision that many remodels lack.

More from the architects

“In this project, we wanted daylight to flood the interior spaces. Apart from the strategic planning of an open to sky landscape courtyard that features vertical green wall instead of the conventional planting to maximize daylight, a glass skylight is introduced at the junction of the old and new roof which is an extension of the original roof pitch. The partially glassed up bridge link into the master bedroom pod injects more indirect light into the adjacent dining space below. All these contributes to a lot more daylight deep into the interior spaces, giving an almost outdoor feel to the rooms and spaces overlooking the various voids.”

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At one extreme there are ultra-minimal, super-modern white-and-black interior designs that seem almost medical in their clean simplicity – at the other, this lushly vegetated house in tropical Singapore feels more like a forest or jungle landscape than an indoor living space or work of architecture.

With more plants and trees than you can shake a stick at, each room has a combination of green growth that goes beyond simple decorative houseplants or a small semi-interior tree. The greenery blurs boundaries between indoor and outside areas, while the combination of warm wood and cold concrete, steel and glass suggests a hybrid of natural and man-made throughout.

In some spaces, series of saplings stretch from floor to ceiling and beyond. In other rooms, the walls are creeping and crawling with living systems of green and brown plants, grass and roots. Imagine a living wall not just in your bedroom but right behind your bed – or walking through a set of thin trees to navigate your own entryway, living room and kitchen space.

Combinations of strategies employed by the designers of Chang Architects lead to a set visual climaxes in common spaces, where overlapping elements make for an all-encompassing eco-living experience. The plant life is so pervasive in this unique environment that various micro-climates exist throughout the home depending on vegetation density and type.

Via Archello:

“The design of this three-story intermediate terrace house was completed in August 2005. The scheme was able to fulfill the owner’s brief, part of which was to cater spaces for six persons, a couple, three teenage children and a maid. There was a need for privacy for the couple and the children, but not total separateness. In addition, an experience of living close to nature, re-living their love for nature since their childhood days.”

About Chang Architects:

“We believe that great design is a work from the mind, and the heart. We are passionate about creating innovative and exciting designs, evolving unique characteristics of each project. Our design aims to add values and enhance living for the users, while co-existing harmoniously with nature and the environment.”

“Designing from the spatial point of view is key. Space, which is intangible, is the essence of architecture. When designs are conceived this way,
the most appropriate form ensues. The other important aspect is to understand the various elements of a project, including users’ needs and aspirations. It is through assimilation of the grounds and active collaborations that set the path for a meaningful design.”

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