ichll of discovery

Formzero's Borderless House blurs the boundaries of conventional living, distilling serenity sublimity and surprise in a gardened and Miesian-inspired abode.

- Nizar Musa

Often conjured as an expansive palatial ground of medieval times, the walled garden exists today as part of neighbourhood home archetypes, civic spaces and the gated hideaways of society’s one percent. One recent interpretation, ensconced in a far-flung corner of Malaysia’s Klang Valley suburbia, finds its roots in both Asian and Western sensibilities to manifest a symbiosis of architecture and nature.

the classical garden

Borderless House is the brainchild of celebrated Malaysian practice Formzero, in collaboration with MOA Architects and Caleb Ong Design. The moniker is an oxymoron – there are 60 sheer concrete walls in the entire scheme – that reflects the architects’ poetic approach, as elaborated by Lee Cherng Yih of Formzero.

“We used classical Chinese garden design principles to define privacy and space for the owners and their family, and to simultaneously create interconnectivity with each other and nature,” he says. “In a Chinese garden, you don’t see the whole picture, unlike a typical bungalow where everything is immediately on display. There is an element of hide and seek, of screening certain areas, or highlighting certain elements, that creates surprise and shapes one’s experience of the house.”