House tour: An apartment in Singapore with the qualities of a landed home
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House tour: An apartment in Singapore with the qualities of a landed dwelling
A lofty, gabled ceiling makes all the deviation in transforming the ambience of this two-bedroom flat. It has get a cosy sanctuary for the homeowner, a lawyer in her 30s.
The possessor of this apartment grew up in a house but later moved to a flat. She missed the loftier ceilings and airy feel of her former abode. (Photo: Khoo Guo Jie)
27 Mar 2022 06:15AM (Updated: 10 Jul 2022 04:52AM)
Many Singaporeans desire to alive in landed houses, drawn by the idea of sauntering in their own gardens and having ample space for various activities. But on our land-scarce island, owning such a property remains a dream for the majority of flat dwellers.
The owner of this apartment – a lawyer in her 30s – grew up in a firm only later moved into a flat with her mother. "I've missed the high ceilings and blusterous experience of a landed home," she shared.
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7 years agone, she considered moving into one simply information technology would take been likewise large, and the maintenance cost too impractical, for a single occupant.
She ended up purchasing this two-bedroom, ground-level unit in UE Square Residences. As she hoped to work overseas, she rented it out. When the program did non materialise, she made the determination to alive in this apartment after the tenant's contract concluded in 2022 – though not without starting time remodelling information technology into a place she could telephone call dwelling.
She engaged L Architects for the project. The firm'southward founder, Lim Shing Hui, was a personal friend whose work and ideas she had witnessed over the years. Lim heard most the owner's initial idea of looking for a landed property, which seeded the unusual approach of designing the apartment as if it were a single-storey dwelling.
The 1,119 sq ft apartment's interior was uninspiring. It had the typical, rectilinear condominium layout that prioritises function over feel. The main door opened to a narrow corridor that separated it from the kitchen, and the living and dining were an ambiguous, shared space.
But it also had positive aspects. The longish unit was elevated from the road at the street-facing side, making it quite private. The terrace looked out into a common garden with a water feature, extending the outdoors in.
Together with her project assistant Tse Lee Shing, Lim conducted ii major architectural interventions that altered the spatial dynamics. She start removed the kitchen wall, turning the formerly cloistered space into an open i with light spilling in from the kitchen g.
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Centre OF THE Habitation
The kitchen is now the dwelling house's social heart, anchored with a sophisticated Empress Green marble kitchen counter that greets guests entering the abode. The counter extends to a long dining table, topped by an organically edged timber slab. Food preparation, cooking, serving and dining becomes a seamless sequence. The owner, who enjoys gatherings with friends, can also now engage guests seated at the dining table while cooking.
The other intervention came about after Lim removed the faux ceiling. She discovered a lofty soffit height of 4.5m, up from the previous 3.1m. While most view it as mutual sense to insert a mezzanine for more foursquare footage, she shaped it into a pitched roof to perpetuate the idea of a landed dwelling.
The gabled ceiling is reminiscent of rustic barns or a child's naive drawing of a home, and gives character to the formerly generic apartment. A rhythm of timber rafters accentuates this form. Ambient illumination draws attending to them while the dearth of distracting ceiling light fixtures keeps the sculptural quality pure.
About the rafters, Lim shared: "Before the Circuit Breaker in April 2020, we had completed the blueprint and fifty-fifty submitted the application to the MCST to start work. A few days after, the Circuit Billow kicked in so it was two months before we could execute site piece of work," she recalled.
Lim took the time to review the design, resulting in the idea to expose the rafters. "If not for the Excursion Breaker, we might have left it out. [It would have been a pity] as it is ane of the key ideas of the house's design. It frames the ceiling really well," she said.
The pitched ceiling and rafters across the living and dining harmonise the two areas. In between them, a row of rotating timber doors lets the owner create a more intimate dining expanse when closed, or arrange larger gatherings when opened. Wind and lite penetrate the gridded perforations. The simple shapes correspond with the triangulated ceiling.
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SIMPLICITY IS BEST
"I like to piece of work with uncomplicated geometries because I call up that even simple elements can evolve into something interesting," said Lim. The grid pattern recurs in the bedroom on moveable side tables hung on wall hooks. The flexible design gives the possessor more space on one side of the bed when hung together, and the holes facilitate cables for lamps or electronic devices.
Other pocket-size-scale designs exhibit Lim's interest in creating holistic environments. She also designed a timber rotating latch door lock in the chief bath similar those found in older homes.
Abstruse "ponds" at iii thresholds – the entrance; between the living and dining; and at the bedroom door – farther the idea of living in a landed firm. She filled these with round river pebbles and topped them with granite stepping stones.
"The river stones are substantially an outdoor material. We thought information technology was an interesting thought to utilize them indoors for demarcating the boundaries of three niggling 'houses' (the living, dining and bedroom)," said Lim. The deed of crossing these thresholds symbolises stepping "outdoors" earlier transitioning into some other indoor space.
Throughout the dwelling, matte greyness floor tiles and low-cal timber-laminated cabinetry that tucks away clutter is a gentle foil to the architectural accents. "Matte finishes don't reflect as much lite and then they aid to continue the place visually quiet and let the pitched ceiling remain the focus," said Lim.
This serene quality suits the owner well. "Shing Hui designed so many elements of my home that embodies how I like to exist – minimalist, thoughtful and [balanced]," she said. While humble at beginning, she at present appreciates Lim'southward unconventional proposals, such as the gabled roof, and using Empress Green marble instead of the mutual grey and white variants.
Renovating a dwelling house is often tougher than a new build equally it tin can come with surprises. Lim's modus operandi is to come to site with an open mind and let these discoveries, such every bit the loftier ceilings, guide her.
"Nosotros have to think of another way to 'solve the puzzle' that we idea nosotros had already solved. Information technology trains me to find aesthetically pleasing solutions that are also meaningful," she said. In another example, she debated whether to plaster the exposed brickwork uncovered above the former false ceiling.
She decided to leave it un-plastered for memory's sake but painted it white to continue the flat's calm feel. In the bedroom where she found a half-plastered wall, Lim stripped the plaster further to the level of the bed frame's calorie-free cove for visual neatness. In retrospect, the brick texture aligns with the barn reference.
The home, christened The Business firm Apartment, is unable to host large parties for now but is no less well used. It embodies the thought of home as sanctuary, which was emphasised during the pandemic.
Shared the possessor, "Ever since I moved in, I've been at home well-nigh of the time – working from home, cooking and having small gatherings with friends and church mates. My dwelling house is now my safe haven and I always look forward to being at habitation; I've turned from an extrovert who is e'er dining outside or travelling to someone who is e'er home!"
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