Being home tutors, the owners of this five-room flat in Serangoon Avenue decided to turn two of their bedrooms into classrooms, since they also have no children of their own. With their fondness for vintage, the overall look and feel of the “classrooms” evoke an old-school vibe, reminiscent of the schools of previous generations. They got the help of interior designers from The Scientist, and renovation cost $60,000.
A faux mottled brick wall in the living room is the only feature wall in the spare and white spaces of the house. Their balcony, a walled one that is typical of point block flats from the mid-70s, has floor to wall ornate tiles. Their tiles are matte and flat, modern interpretations of the traditional glazed ceramic and porcelain tiles.
The kitchen is another throwback to the past when kitchen cabinets were cast in poured concrete and affixed with wooden doors. The kitchen walls have square powder-blue tiles laid diagonally, while the floor is tiled black-and-white mosaic style.
Vintage light fixtures, many with glass shades, came from the owners' frequent retro scouting jaunts.
Daylight streams into the second "classroom", which is large enough for six students. Original architecture drawings are from Mobler.
Not many architects can say that they are living in the house that they've designed and built. Even fewer can declare that the house has won Building of the Year, the top prize awarded by the local architecture fraternity. But the proud owners of Open House, as they call it, can boast all those things.
Belonging to architecturally-trained husband-and-wife Berlin Lee and Gwen Tan, this three-and-a-half storey intermediate terrace has an industrial look from the concrete screed ceiling and cool tones of matte black, beige and grey. Renovation cost some $1.5 million, not including furnishings.
Being outdoor-lovers, the couple had the home designed to be completely naturally ventilated, without any glass windows on the facade. For the staircase, they chose black powder-coated steel beams to complement the interior look.
The towering Pink Mempat tree (Cratoxylum formosum), known colloquially as the Singapore Sakura, provides shade above the entrance to the house on the first floor.
Natural light illuminates the master bedroom, with windows that span the entire length of the east-facing facade. To keep the colour scheme of the room consistent with the rest of the house, they chose large pieces of Black Metal tile from GF+A.
As the owners wanted their bedroom to enjoy views of the pool on one end of the house, and the park at the back, they had their bathroom face the pool. This opens up the space and there is no need to enter the shower area via the room, especially after a swim.
They also used timber board-formed concrete to create the structural walls of their home after being inspired by the design that they did for a client. The industrial, woodgrain finish is made through a process of patterning concrete, which softens the look and well-suited for external facade finishes.