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Lantern House: A capacious space made for sporting events and get-together with family & friends

This house has a basketball court, space for mini-golf, swimming pool and ping-pong – perfect for the active homeowners and their five children. 

Lantern House: A capacious space made for sporting events and get-together with family & friends

The house glows like a lantern at night, particularly the internal courtyard on the second storey. (Photo: Studio Periphery)

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This house is named Lantern House for the night-time glowing effect of an internal courtyard wrapped in a screen of aluminium slats. Its atmospheric effect belies the bungalow’s hardworking functions, incorporated to fulfil the multiple needs and desires of the couple who live here with their five children and elderly parents.

“When we decided to build this new house, two of the oldest children had already left the nest. While our previous semi-detached house was functional for us to sleep, study and work in, we didn’t have much space for recreation,” said the homeowner.

They engaged Christopher Chow of Hei Architects to design a house meeting their needs, in collaboration with Fringe Architects who was the project architecture firm. “The brief emphasised the need for a variety of facilities to accommodate their active lifestyle and growing, energetic children,” said Chow. The ages of the three youngest children are 26, 16 and 12.

The basketball court at the front porch, edged with a long bench for spectators, is the first thing one encounters when entering the plot. (Photo: Studio Periphery)
The swimming pool equipped with an endless pool system. (Photo: Studio Periphery)

The list of spaces required includes a basketball court that doubles as an area for large gatherings, a swimming pool equipped with a Jacuzzi and an endless pool system (a compact swimming system that deploys powerful water current to allow one to swim in place), a sauna room, herb planters, courtyard for reflection, space for mini-golf, a study-cum-home office, compact fitness gym, as well as an entertainment zone with a movie room and space for playing table tennis and pool.

“We are a very active family, enjoying the outdoors, sports, and having friends and extended family members around. My husband and I also try our best to do activities together with the children whenever we can take a break from our busy work schedules. In the design of the house, we didn’t just want a space to only sleep and work in, but also for us to relax [together with the rest of the family]; we also wanted it to be a home where all of us would want to spend more time in,” said the homeowner.

The internal courtyard on the second storey is a sheltered, semi-private space for the family to relax in. (Photo: Studio Periphery)

The basketball court at the front porch, edged with a long bench for spectators, is the first thing one encounters when entering the plot. “I used to play basketball with friends back in my school days and today, the boys love sweating it out at the court whenever they need a break from their gruelling study routines. Be it basketball or volleyball, they can always find something to do in this space,” said the homeowner.

The children’s friends often come by for a game before soaking in the swimming pool and using sauna at the back of the house, and then heading up to the entertainment area at the attic for more indoor fun, she elaborated. The sauna faces the pool, making this area a sort of private wellness enclave. The pool was positioned here as it backs the gardens of an institution, thus there are no neighbouring houses that look directly down at this capacious backyard.

At the backyard is a sauna facing the pool and a window from the kitchen where food and drinks can be passed through. (Photo: Studio Periphery)
The spaces on the first storey look out to plenty of landscaping. (Photo: Studio Periphery)

Chow related the architecture and internal distribution of functions to the surrounding context. The exterior reads as a series of interlocking volumes, with the most private spaces as opaque blocks, the semi-private spaces – such as the second-storey courtyard surrounded by screens – as porous shells, and areas like the public ground storey with the basketball court and outdoor pool area as the most public, community centric spaces.

Internally, the staggered volumes help foster visual connection between the different zones. For example, the entertainment space on the attic level looks down into the double-storey, landscaped internal courtyard on the second storey, while a small pond with a glass base in the courtyard offers glimpse of what’s happening on the first storey foyer.

This internal courtyard is the house’s centrepiece, as well as a climatic buffer to the building’s inner recesses. “This elevated garden, cocooned by the skin of screens, not only lends privacy but also filters natural light and gentle breezes to create a comfortable microclimate for the family,” Chow explained.

The internal courtyard’s pond has a glass base looking into the foyer. (Photo: Studio Periphery)

The homeowner shares that this has become a favourite spot of her youngest son, who comes here to do his schoolwork. “He pulls a chair, sit in front of the tree and put on his thinking cap,” she mused. Visiting children also enjoy this space, which has a putting green. “You see little ones trying their hand on becoming the next Tiger Woods, honing their short games,” the homeowner humoured.

The tropical aspect of this courtyard is enhanced with natural materials of varying textures to provide a sense of warmth and give visual depth to surfaces, Chow explained. The house’s general palette is simple – plaster and paint, natural stone, granite, solid Burmese teak and handmade bricks at the facade.

The living area, dressed in natural tones. (Photo: Studio Periphery)

The house also boasts several sustainable features, such as solar panels on the rooftop with generated power that is fed back into the grid and rainwater harvesting via the roof, balconies, first storey pool deck and planters that direct rain into a detention tank. “The collected water is reused as greywater for flushing the toilets and landscape irrigation,” said Chow.

The architecture also caters for passive cooling. “Water features, such as entrance waterfall features, swimming pool spouts and the reflection pool in the courtyard naturally cool the outdoor spaces without additional mechanical systems,” Chow explained. Lush landscaping at the attic also provides shade and privacy for the interiors on that level.

The master bathroom looks out to a lush planter, enhancing the indoor-outdoor feel. (Photo: Studio Periphery)

The couple share that the house meets all their needs. “Since moving in, we have found this is truly a home built to cater to our habits and lifestyles,” said the homeowner. The couple enjoy having friends over for food-and-drinks sessions, and the open-concept kitchen island facilitates that. “The generous dining space allows us to host dinner parties with a view of the swimming pool,” added the homeowner on the linked spaces.

The movie room upstairs is another gathering spot enjoyed by the couple on their own or with the rest of the household. “Movie time with the old folks and children has become a regular activity,” said the homeowner.

“While my husband and the boys like to compete in sessions of table tennis or have a game of pool whenever they have time, we also enjoy exercising together in the gym with the children, pushing their limits with the weights, and my husband and myself on cardio and stretching exercises. Thereafter, it’s time for the pool, swimming against the counter current system for more cardio exercise, then relaxing in the Jacuzzi, drying up and ending with chats in the sauna.”

The courtyard on the second storey opens out to a balcony. (Photo: Studio Periphery)

Interestingly, the couple has thought about how the house can be a nexus for a different sort of community when the children have flown the nest and are living elsewhere with their own families. “We decided that we will be able to turn it into a retirement home for us and some friends whose children have also moved on and out with their own families. Thus, in addition to good-sized bedrooms for couples, we insisted that spaces cater for elderly mobility and included a sizable lift,” the homeowner commented.

The sustainable features, such as the rainwater harvesting systems and solar panels were also meant for “a self-sustaining house in the long run,” she pointed out as the couple plan to live here far beyond the time their children are grown.

Initially, the couple were slightly concerned if they were overly ambitious with the many functions but after staying here for a time, they find that it is perfect. The homeowner remarked: “While a lot can be going on at one time, we don't feel any stress as everything has their own space. We are really happy how everything is under one roof, yet all the spaces are well utilised and enjoyed by everyone in the house.”  

Source: CNA/bt
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