The Chic Home: Modern Asian tropical design in detached house

SINGAPORE – When a banker and accountant couple in their 50s bought this Jalan Senandong property in Bukit Timah for themselves and their two daughters, they chose home-grown practice Ehka Studio to design the home.

Taking their cues from the home owners’ fengshui master, the Ehka Studio team – director Hsu Hsia Pin, design director Eunice Khoo and assistant director Amoz Boon – designed the detached home’s first- and second-storey layouts around a central space.

On the first storey, the entrance lobby is surrounded by the living and dining rooms, dry and wet kitchens, wine cellar, guest room, powder room and other ancillary areas.

A family lounge forms the central space on the second storey, surrounded by the master bedroom, two bedrooms and another guest room.

A distinct element of the home’s exterior is the pair of curved roofs, inspired by the traditional Chinese roof form. These meet over the central space of the home, drawing the eye upwards for double-volume spatial drama. 

Closer to the ground, the house sits on a solid base of rubblework stone that anchors the massing. As the house faces west, the stonework shields the interior spaces from the afternoon sun.

The heavy base also visually anchors the building and provides contrast with the lighter, porous metal screens on the second storey.

The exterior of the home integrates natural landscaping elements such as water, greenery and stone.

The swimming pool starts from the front of the house and wraps around the length of the building, all the way to the rear. It incorporates a tiered water feature in front, so water cascades into the pool and towards the home.

The demolition and rebuilding of this house, which sits on 8,686 sq ft of land with 6,210 sq ft in gross built area, took two years to complete. The family moved into the home in July 2021.