from paper to form - part 1

The most satisfying part of my job is being able to see things built, from inception, through production and finally to completion. I would like to share my satisfaction and experiences through this blog. I can't say that I am proud of everything that I am putting up here, but each is a process that I learn from, en route to become the greatest architect this side of world has ever seen! ha.

Ok, let's start with this one: The Fengshui House. I call it such because my awesome Clients are firm believers of geomancy - from macro aspects like orientation and massing to micro consideration like colours, material and details.

I am going to keep this light. No archi literature here, just a record of how my sketches and drawings take form.

The early sketches of the house before tender:

... and, tadaah! The final product-

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Perhaps one of the most prominent features of this house is the chevron ironwood cladding on the central entertainment block. This not only marks the spine of the house, but also provide some degree of heat insulation for this west-facing house. Overhangs are kept wide to shade the interiors as well as provide usable spill-out spaces for the internal spaces.

Some details - the masterbath

...the actual built masterbath.

Sketch proposal for the roof top garden meditation platform:

... and the as-built... i think the tree has gotten slightly bigger now, with a nice shady crown..

Below: proposal for the 'tropical corridor' linking the bedrooms over courtyards. Our clients were concerned about the practicality of the open corridor we had earlier proposed, but we still wanted to keep the openness and character of these corridors. The solution - a combination of motorised louvers and fixed glass. The fixed glass at the lower corridor is not full height so that air can still circulate, and the louvers are lowered to overlap this gap, to keep the rain out.

The result: