Interstitial Intervention

A series of traditional solutions applied in a contemporary way by Hyla Architects results in the verdant verandahs house concealed behind an artistic concrete brise soleil.

- Low Shi Ping

Landed property owners typically have two concerns when designing their homes in Singapore: the lack of privacy and tropical climate.

No stranger to this conundrum is the award-winning HYLA Architects, which consistently outdoes itself in coming up with well-designed solutions to mitigate these challenges.

Verdant Verandahs is yet another example. A two-storey semi-detached house sited on a street corner, it ran the risk of becoming a fishbowl.

But under the direction of HYLA’s Principal Architect Han Loke Kwang, it has turned out otherwise.

LIKE A MONDRIAN

“We sought to give the house privacy by creating a series of interstitial spaces between the external and internal areas,” explains Han.

These manifest as verandahs on the second floor and attic, edged with planter boxes from which leafy greenery spills out with unbridled enthusiasm.

Consequently, each of the rooms on the upper floors looks into its own “private garden”.

The beauty of it is that none of this is visible from the outside, hidden, as they are, by a façade composed of a thick, concrete brise soleil that also offers protection from the sun.