The Merlimau House by Aamer Architects
Aamer Architects have completed the Merlimau House in Singapore.
Full description after the photos….
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The Merlimau House by Aamer Architects:
Perhaps the most prominent feature of the house is the dramatic front roof that slants from the attic to the car porch, giving the house the presence it needs from the narrow entrance and street.
One of the main design challenges for this house was the rather tight triangular site. The entrance and façade from the street was very narrow, giving the house little presence.
The layout, orientation and even the form and massing of the house attempt to negate these site constraints. This formulates the overall design direction. The L-configuration of the plans lends itself to the best possible engagement to site conditions, climate and vistas. The house opens up at the eastern façade, fronted by a central garden and landscape pond. Main spaces are orientated around this garden. The landscape pond extends from this garden to an intimate courtyard across to the other side of the double-volume living space. This courtyard demarcates the semi-private domain of the house. The west elevation assumes the rear of the house.
Punctuating spaces with lush greenery even at the rooftop becomes an intuitive design strategy that enhances the tropicality of the house, providing a ‘green frame’ to the vistas, screening the unpleasant and reducing the tightness of site. The lap pool is strategically placed at the rooftop, where the best views are. This not only frees up the ground floor for more garden space but also provides passive cooling and insulation for the spaces below.
Architect: Aamer Architects
Main contractor: KLT Builders
Landscape: Nature Landscape
Structural Engineer: JS Tan & Associates
Photos taken by: Amir Sultan
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Lance on 13 May 2010 at 7:36 pm #
Say what you will about the house, be it negative or positive… The pool rocks… Plain and simple.
Cristina on 14 May 2010 at 1:57 am #
Great design, love the master bathroom and the pool…rocks!
LB on 14 May 2010 at 5:19 am #
Yeah baby!!!!! I love this one!!!! And as said before… THE POOL ROCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
kahn on 14 May 2010 at 5:37 am #
That pool seems very secluded and unfriendly, plus very poorly finished.
The house is… just a house, nothing good to comment.
zero34 on 14 May 2010 at 10:28 am #
love everything except the bathroom… the glass block comes out of nowhere and just doesn’t fit with the rest of the house!
yes, the pool does rock, but why does it look like it has an infinity edge that leads into the plantations/landscaping?!?
Daniel Shand on 14 May 2010 at 10:32 am #
I Love the pool and the concept
Van on 15 May 2010 at 9:18 pm #
The house is abolutely great! I love it. Hope that I’ll become a great architect someday too…
E_dy on 16 May 2010 at 5:21 am #
I think what you mean by “secluded and unfriendly” is the fact that it’s a lap pool more than a leisure pool. The owner probably only use it for swimming…
Finally a pool with a purpose, it rocks !
kahn on 17 May 2010 at 4:37 am #
@ E_dy: so, why to show it? There are many “with a purpose” parts of a house (for example, the mechanical room, the garage, the closets) which usually are not shown, because nobody bothers to make some special design there.
That pool is nothing different – only a concrete box finished with the most common and cheap ceramic tiles and – more important – without any compositional contribution to the house architecture (in this respect, it could be anywhere else, even on other plot, with the same indifferent effect).
Generally speaking, to fill one flat roof with water is neither a new idea, nor enough for making a good architecture.
E_dy on 18 May 2010 at 5:44 am #
I agree with you kahn, it does get too much attention here, but I like the fact that it doesn’t “try” to be anything else than a lap pool.