The Chic Home: Weaving visual poetry into redesign of decade-old house
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The layout of the first storey is long and rectilinear, with the living and dining areas at each end.
PHOTO: FINBARR FALLON
Home & Decor
SINGAPORE – When architect Woon Chung Yen was tasked with renovating the interior of a 10-year-old semi-detached house in Jalan Belibas, one of the biggest challenges was how to bring the large spaces – occupied by a couple in their 40s and their two children – to life.
“Houses that have been built to maximise their interior floor areas typically result in light wells of minimal dimensions. In this case, it was important to evoke a sense of poetics, especially for the dimly lit spaces on the first storey,” says the founder and principal of Metre Architects.
The main door’s round handles set the tone for the shapes found elsewhere in the home.
PHOTO: FINBARR FALLON
With the house spanning a vast 6,534 sq ft in land area, Mr Woon’s approach was to first simplify the floor plan of each space.
The peripheral walls were overlaid with various materials or cabinetry to animate the expansive interiors. The spaces were then filled with curated pieces to amplify the volumetric characteristics of each space and create “poetic dialogues”.
The layout of the first storey is long and rectilinear, with the living and dining areas at each end.
The living area is defined by a travertine wall and, perpendicular to it, a sandstone wall illuminated by a solitary Lampe Gras 300 pendant lamp from DCW Editions.
A second sandstone wall on the other side continues towards the dry kitchen and dining room, orchestrating the spatial connection.
The dry kitchen and dining area are connected.
PHOTO: FINBARR FALLON
Conceived as a “folded” wall due to the recess from the removal of an existing cabinet, it overlaps with a cantilevered storage counter in front of the dry kitchen.
On the floor, a 13m-long bespoke rug runs under the sofa and coffee table all the way to the dining table. Overhead, two parallel, recessed light channels further heighten the axial relationship.
The American black walnut dining table sits atop a 13m bespoke rug.
PHOTO: FINBARR FALLON
A 3.5m-long single-slab American black walnut dining table sits on a pair of sandblasted, dark-stained veneer supports with tapered detailing on each side.
These supports form part of a trilogy of sculptural objects sharing similar sandblasted, dark-stained veneer finishes, including an interlocking pair of round, mother-of-pearl coffee tables in the living room, and a custom-made display cabinet behind the sofa.
The feature wall comprises two circular motifs, which echo other round geometries around the home.
PHOTO: FINBARR FALLON
On the other side of the dining room is a captivating wall feature. The 5m-by-3.5m composition comprises two circular motifs, which echo other round geometries around the home, from the main entrance handles and interlocking coffee tables, to the display cabinet behind the sofa.
Each of these circular discs is backlit against Kvadrat acoustic panels with two different textiles, one plain and one patterned.
The dining area’s chandelier, when viewed against the feature wall, creates an image of a cloud hovering above the moon.
PHOTO: SPH MAGAZINES
“Juxtaposed against this feature wall, the chandelier creates an image of a cloud hovering above the moon,” says Mr Woon. When viewed with the carpet, he adds, it brings to mind Tang Dynasty poet, painter, musician and statesman Wang Wei’s poem about the sun setting beside the river.
Upstairs are the master bedroom and children’s rooms. Although the master suite enjoys abundant daylight from its ample window openings, privacy is an issue as these face the houses across the road on higher terrain.
The curtains were replaced with wooden-slat Venetian blinds that not only address privacy concerns, but also reference the horizontality of the travertine and sandstone on the first storey.
The windows have been framed with cabinetry to take advantage of the natural light when the children are working at their desks.
PHOTO: SPH MAGAZINES
A different treatment was applied to the fenestrations in the children’s bedrooms. The windows have been framed with cabinetry to take advantage of the natural light when they are working at their desks. The horizontally applied cabinet laminates again relate to the travertine and sandstone veins.
Mr Woon believes that such associations between different materials make this home a delight.
Citing the walnut dining table and sandstone wall as an example, he says: “The sandstone wall has knots similar to the walnut table. This sparks the question, is the sandstone more timber-like, or is the walnut table more stone-like? Or perhaps the geometries of nature are such that different materials such as stone and timber may share similar patterns?”
The walnut table and sandstone wall’s textures play off each other.
PHOTO: SPH MAGAZINES
The works involved some removal of walls, reconfiguration of the dry kitchen and new ceiling for the living and dining areas, as well as new cabinetry works and light fixtures.
The design and construction took about 10 months to complete and the family moved into their new home in March 2023.
This article first appeared in Home & Decor Singapore. Go to
homeanddecor.com.sg
for more beautiful homes, space-saving ideas and interior inspiration.
