Water-Cooled House / Wallflower Architecture + Design

© Albert Lim

Architect: Wallflower Architecture + Design
Location: Bukit Timah,
Design Team: Cecil Chee, Robin Tan & Sean Zheng
Project Year: 2009
Photographs: Albert Lim

© Albert Lim

Hidden away from the road, the site is surrounded by a verdant screen of mature trees from adjacent properties. Breezes blowing transversely across the site being another notable aspect of the location. The owner had wanted a contemporary home that prioritized environmental coolness as a consistent attribute and to be able to enjoy the luscious tropical surroundings.

ground floor plan
second floor plan

The concept developed for the home inverted planning and hierarchical norms common in local residential planning. To fully appreciate the mature and variegated natural environment and stretch the potential for visual depth and distance, the main living room and study were located in a pavilion on the second storey. It was designed with minimal enclosing and supporting structure so as to maximize the elevated vistas. To unconsciously guide visitors to the living pavilion above, a minimal spiral staircase touches down within the entrance foyer. Hints of the tree-lined views are seen through the large circular void connecting the entrance foyer to the pavilion above. A dark reflecting pond surrounds the pavilion which assists in refining the experience of serene isolation and privacy and frames. The occasional bird dipping into the pond, rippling the surface further ties the house to the natural surroundings. The purpose of the second storey pond is also designed to thermally insulate the dining, bedrooms and family spaces underneath from solar heat gain. In the same way, the water body above also helps to regulate temperature swings within the house.

© Albert Lim
© Albert Lim

On the first storey, the residential and service functions of the house are delineated by a long continuous light and air well that is paralleled below by a similarly long and continuous koi pond. The pathway running along-side the pond that leads to the bedrooms hides the substantial service areas which are beyond the pathway wall. As with the second storey pond, the air well and first storey koi pond is also designed to facilitate in micro-cooling the first storey rooms and spaces. The pathway is a conduit for prevailing breezes; the koi pond’s thirty metre length and two metre width exposes a sixty square metre surface area within the house to those breezes for evaporative cooling.

© Albert Lim

As a gesture to the prominent role that water plays within the residence, an oculus within the pond highlights the main entrance, the circle of sunlight cooled and animated by the constantly changing sinusoidal patterns of refracted rays through the water above.

* Location to be used only as a reference. It could indicate city/country but not exact address.
Cite: "Water-Cooled House / Wallflower Architecture + Design" 03 May 2010. ArchDaily. Accessed 23 May 2013. <http://www.archdaily.com/58294>

21 comments

  1. Thumb up Thumb down 0

    Interesting concept and nicely crafted. The rather pushing question – after having seen many “ESD” designs fail – is it working?
    Also you wonder wether it comes with a bicycle for the corridor and whether the owner intends to have any children who would love trowing things into the water and having babies drowning in it.
    It rather appears as a spa … See moreresort, you could imagine having spas in the cells off the corridor, the cool crisp and minimalist design also suggests that.
    As a summary, a nice design that would rather fit a commercial purpose with strong representative character.

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  2. Thumb up Thumb down 0

    I guess they don’t use living rooms in Singapore. Don’t see one on the plan.

    Reply
  7. Thumb up Thumb down +1

    Im wondering its the water feature really works? Do people just pass by or walk through the corridor or the family it self like to have sitting around the water feature?

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  17. Thumb up Thumb down 0

    the plan is weird…!for a luxurious villa, the staircase and dining area is located so near and almost next to the main entrance! is this for fengshui purposes or the client’s brief and requirement?Even he location of the kitchen is weird for me!

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  18. Thumb up Thumb down 0

    I find the location and layout of the kitchen of the kitchen somewhat strange. and the poor maid’s been given a room and a toilet the size of phone booths. anyways a floorplan can be easily changed when one wants to borrow a concept. the water features below and above can be kept as they are. it’s the concept here that makes the house special. have drawn plans like that myself. but yes this concept’s a problem if the plot and therefore the house is small.

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