The addition of a green facade as part of an A&A project breathes new life into an existing Sentosa Cove home.
After having lived in this two-storey detached home in Sentosa Cove for almost a decade, the homeowner and her grown-up son and daughter felt that it was time for an Addition and Alteration (A&A) so that the home would better suit their needs.
Their brief to architect Lim Shing Hui and senior technical executive Tse Lee Shing from L Architects was to update the facade, add a lift and a family room on the first storey and extend the two bedrooms overlooking the car porch into the existing balcony. In addition to these requirements, the kitchen was an important area because the homeowner frequently cooks for her family and guests.
Besides culinary pursuits, she also enjoys playing the piano, so its placement had to be carefully considered. With these in mind, Shing Hui and Lee Shing reconciled the new requirements with the existing structure whilst abiding by plot ratio guidelines and Gross Floor Area (GFA) restrictions that apply to residential developments on Sentosa Island.
Approaching from the road, the house stands out from among the rest of the properties along the row not by being more ostentatious or using more stone and other extravagant cladding, but by its creative use of more modest materials such as square aluminium profiles, grey painted walls and planters to create something unique and interesting. The “living” facade hugs the main entrance and evokes the feeling of entering a garden.
“It’s like everyone is vying for attention, so I wanted a facade that is less showy, but makes no less of a visual impact,” says Shing Hui. Part of her inspiration came from her interactions with the homeowner: “I could tell that she had green fingers, so I thought of incorporating plants into the facade.” Generous roof eaves, overhangs and planter boxes provide the home with plenty of shade from the relentless sun.
The facade is more than just the face of the home. It forms an amorphous boundary where the facade ends and the building edge begins. It was also conceived as a living grid that floats in front of the house, striking up a dialogue with the spaces behind it. As a response to our tropical climate, the green facade is like a skin that allows the fenestrations to be set back, thereby mitigating the effects of sun and rain.
The elongated site and layout of the home lends itself to a spatial sequence that leads from the entrance and foyer to the dining area, stepping down to the living room and extending out towards the pool terrace and swimming pool, beyond which is the Sentosa Cove waterway.
This layering of spaces and the tiered progression heightens the anticipation that culminates in a lovely view of the water elements that reinforce the idyllic island setting. The homeowner followed closely to the furniture layout indicated in the drawings and shopped accordingly.
The A&A was also an opportunity to review aspects of the home that could be more practical, such as the relationship between the wet and dry kitchens. Previously, the two were located on opposite sides of the entrance foyer and dining area, which was functionally less than ideal and resulted in the homeowner using the dry kitchen like a wet kitchen.
The designers moved the wet kitchen beside the dry kitchen, in place of an existing guest room. With some reconfiguration, they also managed to incorporate the helper’s room within this zone. “We added a sliding door in between the wet and dry kitchens to contain any grease and smoke, However, when it is opened, the kitchen counter effectively stretches the full length of both kitchens,” Shing Hui points out.
The circular dining set sits 10 to 12 persons and was custom-made using one single slab of marble as per the client’s request. Light fittings were selected so as not to obstruct the vista across the home through to the pool and waterway.
Another improvement is to provide a guest bathroom that is accessible from the exterior so that guests do not need to traipse through the house dripping wet after swimming to get to the shower.
The powder room on the first level surprises guests with its handmade green wall tiles complemented by travertine on the side and provides contrast to the monochromatic colour scheme in the rest of the home.
The bathtub in the master bathroom has been replaced with an enlarged shower area. The accessible design takes into consideration the long-term needs of the family.
The four bedrooms are located on the second storey and their interiors are designed to feel like hotel rooms.
The highlight of the daughter’s bedroom, which overlooks the car porch, is a balcony where the animal lover can spend time with her cats and other pets. The room is located directly behind the facade’s planter boxes, so she can enjoy the greenery from both the balcony and within the room.
Being responsible for the architectural, interior and landscape design enabled Shing Hui and Lee Shing to conceive a cohesive scheme where all the elements reinforce one another to create a contextual and aesthetically interesting residence that is also practical.