Architecture News Plus (ANP) – Architecture and Design Magazine

Sentosa House

This is a project by Concrete Architectural Associates and it is located at Sentosa Cove, Singapore. There are twenty images for Sentosa House.

: © Sash Alexander

Project images

Designer's statement

The house in Sentosa Singapore was designed by L P Kwee who trained as an architect at Cornell University. He engaged the design firm Concrete to collaborate on the process and design the interior spaces. The house was situated on a corner lot with two sides facing a water canal. The architectural intent to celebrate this unique waterfront view was achieved by strategically locating a free-standing oval shaped living room that anchored the project on the site, orientating it towards the water. The rest of the house is contained within a fluid and natural form and serves as a backdrop to living room.

The swimming pool is placed within a semi-open courtyard that mediates the living room and the main form. The free-form pool is partially covered by a roof that is reminiscent of a canopy, something closely tied into the idea of tropical living that allows one to exist outside while simultaneously being protected from the elements. The large aperture in the roof, inspired by the Pantheon, allows for natural light, ventilation and precipitation into the swimming pool while simultaneously giving the roof a sense of weightlessness, allowing it to 'float' above the rest of the house.

The veranda, a vertical projection of the living room, offers views towards the canal from above, giving one the impression of being at the hull of a boat.

Every architectural decision was focused around the site and the views it provided. With half of the project open to the canal, the waterfront became a focal point around which the house was designed. Each room in the house is orientated to face the water, and both fully exploits and celebrates the views of the waterscape.

The public facade of the project was designed to seem 'faceless' for both privacy reasons as well as to provide shade from the strong western sun. The walls seem to 'peel' off the building, morphing and transforming as one moves past, before becoming fenestrations that face north.

Concrete's assignment was to design the interior of this weekend house. The aim was to work with the architecture, emphasizing the courtyard and ensuring harmony between the interior and exterior. It was important that the two melded with each other, creating a seamless flow of circulation that did not simply occur laterally from outdoor to indoor, but vertically between floors. In this manner, the entire house becomes and endless playground that one meanders through; always open to views of the water, yet intensely private at the same time.

This seamlessness has been further realized in the project's furniture and finishings. The use of Corian allows for a continuous finish that flows through the entire house, allowing the finishing to transform into one large piece of 'furniture'. The Corian allows beds to develop into shelves, which in turn become cupboards, vanity displays, and kitchen countertops. Without the need for edges, the material wraps the building on the interior and draws the individual from one room to the next, perpetuating the idea of an unbroken flow of movement.

The garage, a space one would usually consider separate from a house, or belonging to the outside more than the inside, is instead made a cohesive part of the interior. It is unenclosed, separated from the foyer only by a glass wall. While most garages are hidden, this one is designed as a private display case, a mini automotive museum of sorts, where a wall of 1:24 scale cars serve as an impressive backdrop to a 1:1 Ferrari or Lamborghini.

The oval living room is the penultimate realization of the seamless flow of movement. The swimming pool seems to slip into the living room as its mosaic tiles cover the zone where the geometries of both spaces begin to interact with each other. The lighting scheme of the room allows it to be lit in various colours throughout the day, adjusting the atmosphere of the room to suit the mood and preference of the user. In this way, the space can either blend into the environment or become a single glowing object in the dark.

Material Information

Floor: Overall: grey granite. In special areas: inlays of different materials: leather, polished pebble stones, stud plates, wood.

Walls: If part of the built-in furniture: corian in bone colour, otherwise: white painted stucco, in the bathrooms: pebble glass tiles

Ceiling: White painted stucco

Lighting: Recessed spots by modular lighting, suspended iconic lamps mainly by modular lighting and Tom Dixon.

Furniture: Fixed furniture mostly built-in furniture, custom made out of corian in bone colour, loose standard furniture mainly by Moroso.

Details/Credits

Location: Sentosa Cove, Singapore
Interior designer: Concrete Architectural Associates (with the client)
Design exterior: L P Kwee
Design Landscape: L P Kwee (with Concrete Architectural Associates)
Project team: Rob Wagemans, Lisa Hassanzadeh, Melanie Knüwer (with the architect L P Kwee)
Total area: 520 m2
Completion: January 2010
Photography: Sash Alexander