This Good Class Bungalow in Singapore is inspired by black-and-white houses
Deep roof eaves, large windows with garden views and sheltered patios are just some of the highlights of this Good Class Bungalow designed by RT+Q Architects.
When the owners of this house first holidayed at The Sanchaya in Bintan, Indonesia with her family, the wife was deeply enamoured by the architecture that they returned several times. The luxury resort adapts the style of a black-and-white bungalow with its monochromatic palette, deep eaves and patios that allow for comfortable tropical living.
“We have been there several times and I like the style very much. It’s not traditionally black-and-white but a bit more modernised, with a lighter feel and larger windows. Hence, I requested for a ‘modern tropical’ style for my house,” said the wife Lisa Zhang.
The family formerly resided in an apartment before purchasing a Good Class Bungalow (GCB) on the fringe of town. The original house on site was a modest structure with small windows that curtailed access to the garden. The homeowners engaged RT+Q Architects in Singapore to build a new house that would have a greater connection to the outdoors.
Situated near a quiet cul-de-sac, the site where the house sits has a sense of security and calm. There is plenty of privacy with largely unblocked views as the houses on the higher and lower sides do not look directly into it because the land is tiered to follow the sloping road.
“It’s very quiet, with many monkeys and birds, chickens and lizards; it’s very different from staying in an apartment,” mused Zhang. Her two sons, Jeffrey and Andy, are now teenagers, and the house’s design also caters to their needs.
The architecture team’s response to the homeowners’ brief is a simple L-shaped building enclosing the garden toward the street beyond and turning its back to the higher neighbour. “The garden was conceived before the architecture. The L-shaped house forms a two-sided border to the garden,” explained architect Rene Tan, who founded the firm together with TK Quek in 2003.
The expression of the architecture is uncomplicated, reduced to a legible reading of slim pilotis that hold up a pitched roof. “We were inspired by the concept of The Primitive Hut, where the essence of the architecture was reduced to roof, structure and enclosure,” said Tan on the house’s minimal profile.
The Primitive Hut was theorised by Jesuit priest Marc-Antoine Laugier in the 18th century, defining essential elements of architecture. The main architectural components in this house are a modern adaption of the grass roof and vertical tree trunks as man’s earliest ways to form shelter.
With the right proportions and articulation, these elements form a tropical house. “The design approach uses passive methods of simple extended roof eaves, as well as two, large, covered external spaces outside the kitchen and master bedroom, to protect the house from heat and rain,” remarked Tan on the house’s sustainability aspects. Koh Sock Mui, a senior associate at the firm added: “They also allow for the sliding doors to be left open most of the time without fear of inclement weather.”
Eschewing monster mansions, the family preferred a house that was “not so fancy and complicated.” Koh continued: “The clients were focused on only building what they would use.” Which is why there are just enough rooms, but they are all well sized. “The house’s L-shape is also sensible: On the first storey, the dining is in one wing while the living area is on the other side. On the second storey, the parents take one wing and the two sons the other,” said Tan.
The walls are painted white, and the underside of roof eaves are cladded with aluminium that have a similar look to timber, connecting them to the natural backdrop of trees and plants. On the elevations, vertical and horizontal slot windows evoke abstract art. Timber screens are provided where necessary to give privacy and shade to the bedrooms, integrated carefully within the facades for a sense of composure and restraint.
The house’s palette echoes the colours of a traditional black-and-white colonial house. “White Calacatta marble and dark walnut flooring and carpentry were used internally. Externally, solid teak was chosen for its colour and texture at the patios, and more hardwearing materials such as granite and tiles for areas exposed to weather. The roof was finished in aluminium shingles so that its scale and texture would be more akin to that of the traditional tiled roofs of the black-and-white bungalow but without the weight and bulk,” explained Koh.
At the driveway, a moon gate clad in stone is the first instance of framing as it draws the focuses into the garden. A vestibule beyond the main door contains a shoe room on one side and a powder room on the other. Even here, windows are positioned to frame the greenery outside.
A wall of screens demarcates the threshold into the living room where the grand view of the garden and swimming pool through large frameless glass panels is the focus. Naturally, the living room with the garden view is a favourite spot of the husband for which to reply to emails on his mobile phone.
“The first storey’s corridor terminates in a double-height space that connects to the family room upstairs, which has a soaring ceiling following the roof profile,” Koh highlighted. The arm of the house’s L-shaped plan contains the vertical circulation spaces such as the lift and the staircase where again, the idea of framing comes in through double-storey picture windows fronting a purposefully situated tree.
On this space, Koh highlights the mouldings on the walls that give a sense of scale to the large surfaces, as well as vertical timber posts forming the balustrades that take a page from the interior design of black-and-white bungalows.
A lot of work went into detailing the house that contributes to an overall sense of quality and sophistication. Koh pointed out the detached steel plate detail of the pitched roof to create “a sleek, clean edge while accentuating the overhang.” She added: “Even the master bathroom has a subtly vaulted ceiling that concentrates attention toward the central shower feature wall.”
On the master bedroom en-suite, the architecture team has created a fluid plan with two entries: One can either enter through a generous walk-in wardrobe or a foyer before the sleeping zone. The layout allows the husband to access his study through the master bathroom if the wife is already asleep. Capping the end of this space is one of the sheltered patios. On the level below is the other patio that has seating for outdoor dining.
These outdoor spaces enjoy a wonderful vista of wild greenery from the neighbouring undeveloped plot that this part of the house looks out to. Zhang jests that they use the outdoor dining space mainly to eat pungent foods like durian as the tropical humidity makes it hard to dine outdoors often.
A favourite place the family spends time in is the basement entertainment room, where natural light enters through slots of glazing near the ceiling. Furnished with a table and a foosball table, the space is well used. The husband shares that he plays table tennis with his younger son Andy almost daily.
“We use the basement every day. My elder son will come down to study if it’s too noisy upstairs. When their friends are over, they use the space and we don’t need to be around,” shared Zhang.
Functional for family living yet inspirational – this house is a good case study of the approach of the firm that views the humble house typology as a rich avenue for creativity. “The size and scale of private family homes allow us to explore different architectural ideas, which we can see to fruition within a couple of years rather than in a decade,” said Koh. It is the 145th completed house of the firm, with more to come.