Home Tour: Architect Philip Yong’s terrace home along Yio Chu Kang Road

As evening falls along Yio Chu Kang Road, Philip Yong steps onto his rooftop garden, drink in hand, gazing thoughtfully at the architectural sculpture that punctuates the space like an exclamation mark against Singapore’s skyline. Below him stretches his masterpiece – a narrow terrace house that defies conventional design wisdom at every turn, concrete poetry written in three dimensions.

“It is an architect’s revenge,” Mr Yong quips. “Whatever ideas that you can’t push on the client, you have it in your own home.” This is what Mr Philip Yong, director of CSYA Architecture + Design, has to say when asked if it’s every architect’s dream to build his own house. His two-storey 4,000 sq ft house along Yio Chu Kang Road is the second home he’s built from scratch for himself. 

Terrace house built from scratch

For architects like Yong, designing one’s own home represents the purest expression of their design philosophy, unfettered by compromise or committee decisions. This narrow terrace house in Singapore is actually the second home he’s built from scratch for himself, and the evolution between the two reveals his maturing aesthetic sensibilities. Where his previous home was swathed in marble – “over the top” according to friends who visited – this terrace house design embraces the raw authenticity of exposed concrete.

“Friends now say this has a more down-to-earth feel,” he reflects, running his hand along an unfinished concrete wall, appreciating the subtle imperfections that give the material its character. Yong has deliberately left most of the concrete in its natural state, finding beauty in its honesty. “There’s something deeply satisfying about a material that doesn’t pretend to be something else,” he explains, a sentiment that could equally apply to the man himself.

Long linear layout

The unique proportions of the land – an extraordinary 50 meters long but merely 6 meters wide – presented both challenge and opportunity in this terrace house renovation. Most designers might have fought against these constraints, but Yong embraced them wholeheartedly.

Standing at the main entrance, visitors are immediately confronted with an uninterrupted sightline that stretches the entire length of the property, culminating in a newly constructed annexe housing two bedrooms. This dramatic perspective makes the narrow terrace house feel expansive despite its limited width, a clever architectural sleight of hand.

“Linear space creates a narrative,” Yong explains as he walks the length of the corridor, “like reading a story from beginning to end.” Each room unfolds sequentially, revealing new surprises as you progress deeper into the home. This progressive revelation is a fundamental principle in his terrace house design, creating a sense of journey through the living space.

The second-time experience of building from scratch gave Yong a clarity that first-time homebuilders often lack. “The first house you build is about proving something,” he reflects, “but the second is about knowing yourself.” This self-knowledge manifests in thoughtful decisions about what to include and, perhaps more importantly, what to omit from his terrace house in Singapore.

Rooftop garden

Perhaps the most striking feature of Yong’s home is his rooftop garden, a verdant retreat that serves as both private sanctuary and additional living space. Here, amidst carefully selected plantings, stands an architectural sculpture that resembles a deconstructed shelter – part art, part functional shade provider. This rooftop terrace design exemplifies Yong’s belief that outdoor spaces should be as carefully considered as interior ones, especially in Singapore’s tropical climate.

Maximalist home

Throughout this narrow terrace house, Yong’s collecting instinct is on full display. Art pieces acquired over decades of travel line the walls and occupy carefully considered niches. Unlike the sterile gallery-like spaces many architects create for themselves, Yong’s home embraces a maximalist approach that reflects his expansive personality. “A home should be a biography,” he insists, “not a resume.”

Bold colour palette

Nowhere is this philosophy more evident than in the living room, where conventional design wisdom is gleefully abandoned. Floral curtains frame the windows, paired unexpectedly with a striped sofa in an exuberant palette of pink, purple, and green. Most architects would shy away from such bold color combinations, preferring the safe harbor of neutrals, but Yong revels in chromatic complexity. “Color creates emotion,” he explains simply.

Purple home neon lights

In the corner stands perhaps the most conversation-provoking element in this unique terrace house – a bespoke neon light installation depicting a pair of angel wings. When illuminated for guests, the wings cast a purple glow throughout the space, transforming the living room into something between a sanctuary and a nightclub. When the curtains are drawn, the entire room bathes in a purple haze that defies conventional interior design principles.

“It is always my dream to have a purple room,” Yong admits with the satisfaction of someone who has finally indulged a long-held desire. “People ask why, and I ask them back, why not?” This refreshing defiance of expectation runs through every design decision in his terrace house renovation, creating spaces that feel intensely personal rather than professionally calculated.

Home designed for the homeowner

The reactions from clients who visit his home fall into two distinct categories – delighted surprise or thinly veiled alarm. “The ones who are scared will ask if this is the house they will also be getting,” Yong recounts with a hearty laugh. This response perfectly encapsulates the difference between designing for clients and designing for oneself – the freedom to pursue personal vision without concern for marketability or mass appeal.

As twilight deepens over his rooftop garden, Yong reflects on what this narrow terrace house represents in his professional journey. More than just a place to live, it stands as a three-dimensional manifesto of his design philosophy – that homes should be authentic expressions of their inhabitants, that architecture should provoke emotion, and that rules exist primarily to be thoughtfully broken.

For those considering their own terrace house renovation in Singapore, Yong’s home offers an important lesson: the most successful spaces don’t follow trends but rather reflect the unique personalities and preferences of those who live within them. In a city known for its architectural conformity, Yong’s home stands as a celebration of individualism expressed through concrete, color, and unapologetic personal expression.

This article was first published in The Business Times.