Voila House | Fabian Tan Architects

The brief was to transform a typical pitched roofed bungalow house into a modern contemporary home. The configuration of the bedrooms upstairs were retained, extended only to make the rooms larger. The major redesign focused on the ground floor with the disassembling of walls into open plan spaces.

From the first site visit, the large umbrella trees in the garden left a deep impression. Inspired by this, the design of the family rooms would naturally face this green serene outward view. The common areas extend into the garden, in a U-shape manner; with the private rooms and kitchen placed on the other side of the house.

The umbrella trees pleasantly help shade the tropical sunlight into the double volume formal living room. A set of high revolving doors were specifically created, in order to maximise viewing angles. When closed, it provides a secured shaded screen with windows inside for ventilation, making it effectively a cool indoor living room. However, once opened, the room transforms into an unobstructed outdoor space. This circular form allows the flexibility for these swift obscuring of boundaries between the garden and the room.

Past the staircase behind the formal living, is the wide open plan informal living, kitchen and dining. These spaces were designed intentionally in a white palette to allow natural light to emanate through the space. At the rear end of the house, an extended dining room provides an element of privacy from the neighbouring house. Also, it offers a longitudinal view towards the garden, trees and the defining circular living room.