The Winged House Singapore K2LD

The monolithic stone-walled entry is complemented by the soaring roof that appears to take flight.

Concept drawings of the roof forms.

When the entry door is open, the visitor sees straight through to the garden beyond.

‘Materiality is the key to strengthening the relationship of the two winged forms, its space in between and the roof-on-roof.’—Ko Shiou Hee

This challenging site was read as an opportunity by architect Ko Shiou Hee. The Winged House emerges from the ground as a simultaneously abstract and material expression of its place, celebrating its tropical context while at the same time indulging in a virtuosic play with form. The house is situated at the end of a cul-de-sac on a triangulated plot with a relatively steep slope leading down to a storm water canal. The triangular site and a stand of three mature palm trees at its lower edge gave the architect his inspiration.

Approaching the house, one meets two grand timber doors with vertical timber-framed slot windows on either side and above the transom. Open the doors and the eye is drawn immediately to the garden beyond and the three palm trees.

Where is the house? Well, it consists of two splayed volumes—two trapeziums—which pivot out from the central living space leading directly on from the entry doors. From the street, the house presents a mixed of dense materiality and transparency, with white render, timber screening and two robust split granite walls on either side of the entry and extending inside the house. Once inside, the house opens up entirely to the lush tropical garden at the rear with the two trapezoidal forms framing the garden into a private,yet expansive, place for relaxing and entertaining. Framed by the thrusting roof forms, with the elevated living space looking down on the open tropical entertainment pavilion next to the swimming pool, the garden takes on the character of an open-air theatre.

The floating roof extends out to provide a canopy for the outdoor entertainment terrace.

The roof form is continued inside, seen here in the dining area.

In many ways, this is a house designed for gatherings and entertainment. The ground floor is the public realm. The kitchen and double-height dining room, entirely glazed on the garden side, are off to the left of the entry, while to the right the circulation leads the visitor out to the terrace and down the steps to the open entertainment pavilion and pool. The main guest bedroom is also down this side and has its own access to the pool.

Also to the right of the entry are the stairs to the upper level where the master bedroom is linked by an open bridge-like corridor to two more bedrooms and a home office, which extends out to a timber deck framed and shaded by the plunging roof canopy. There is also a basement with an exercise room-cum-dance studio and a delightfully private parents’ bedroom looking out to a garden lightwell and with one of the more opulent bathrooms you are ever likely to see. Its organic, cavernous, mosaic-tiled shower recess is an adventure in itself.

The architect speaks of the house in terms of two winged forms. This is because he has taken the two trapezoidal volumes and exploded them into a sculptural canopy that suggests a series of film frames of a bird’s wings as it takes flight. The roof offers generous overhangs, providing shade and shelter from heavy rain. But it is a roof where roof is separated from roof, a dynamic interplay of overlapping roofs.

This opening up of the roof creates a play of light and shadow inside the house that is sustained at night by concealed lighting to illuminate the roof separation. Crucially, though, the separation of the roof enables a high degree of natural ventilation, allowing the house to largely forego air-conditioning.

The living area is the pivot of the house, with the dining area angled off to the left and guest bedrooms to the right.

The lush garden is mirrored in the garden beds flanking the upper level of the house.

The interplay of light and form is mirrored by the interplay of materials and by the way the house mixes materiality with transparency, as in the way the powerful split granite walls are juxtaposed to the glazing. The granite walls extend to the inside of the house where they contrast not just with the transparency to the garden but also with the delicate timber detailing and soaring ceilings. The use of timber itself offers further contrasts, as between the lighter-coloured Burmese teak for the underside of the roofs and the darker chengai as the infill medium used for the timber sunscreens.

The material selection and internal verticality of the house work together with the transparency to connect the house to its landscape context and its curtilage of tall trees. This connectivity is replicated in the programme of the house, which manages to blend the public and the private without any loss of privacy or any compromise to the theatricality of its public domain.