Syncopated Spaces

Malaysian architect Fabian Tan varies ceiling heights in a narrow terrace house to make the interiors live and breathe, and connect areas to one another.

- Miguel R. Liona

The house’s physical constraints are apparent from the street. It sits on 176 square meters of land wedged between two other units in a terrace housing row in Kuala Lumpur. Shoulder-to shoulder with one another, the units appear cramped, claustrophobic. Aware of these limitations, the client wanted the house renovated Balinese-style, desiring the serene and refreshing ambiance it promises.

Fabian Tan, the architect, followed the client’s brief in principle, not in aesthetic, by hewing to the guiding essence of Balinese architecture— generous ventilation and harmony with nature. The renovated house now stands half a storey higher than its neighbors, as though coming up for air. The thick exterior walls appear to contradict the brief, with concrete slabs protruding from the façade to form an awning for the garage, a roof deck, and a frame for the 4.5-meter-high front door. The scale and proportion save the façade from being thickset and heavy. Indeed, its rhythmic, vertical lines make the composition, particularly of the entryway, pleasingly distinctive. Better still, the spaces inside induce a feeling of lightness unexpected in such a tight terrace house.