The Sentosa House was situated on a corner lot with two sides facing a water canal in Sentosa Cove Singapore. The architectural intent to celebrate this unique waterfront view was achieved by strategically locating a free-standing oval shaped living room that anchored the project on the site, orientating it towards the water. The rest of the house is contained within a fluid and natural form and serves as a backdrop to living room. The veranda, a vertical projection of the living room, offers views towards the canal from above, giving one the impression of being at the hull of a boat.Every architectural decision was focused around the site and the views it provided. Each room in the house is orientated to face the water, and both fully exploit and celebrate the views of the waterscape. The public facade of the project was designed to seem ‘faceless’ for both privacy reasons as well as to provide shade from the strong western sun.
The aim was to work with the architecture, emphasizing the courtyard and ensuring harmony between the interior and exterior. It was important that the two melded with each other, creating a seamless flow of circulation that did not simply occur laterally from outdoor to indoor, but vertically between floors. This seamlessness has been further realized in the project’s furniture and finishings. The use of Corian allows for a continuous finish that flows through the entire house, allowing the finishing transforming into one large piece of ‘furniture’. The Corian allows beds to develop into shelves, which in turn become cupboards, vanity displays, and kitchen countertops. Without the need for edges, the material wraps the building on the interior and draws the individual from one room to the next, perpetuating the idea of an unbroken flow of movement.
The garage, a space one would usually consider separate from a house, or belonging to the outside more than the inside, is instead made a cohesive part of the interior. It is unenclosed, separated from the foyer only by a glass wall. While most garages are hidden, this one is designed as a private display case, a mini automotive museum of sorts, where a wall of 1:24 scale cars serve as an impressive backdrop to a 1:1 Ferrari or Lamborghini. The oval living room is the penultimate realization of the seamless flow of movement. The swimming pool seems to slip into the living room as its mosaic tiles cover the zone where the geometries of both spaces begin to interact with each other.
The lighting scheme of the room allows it to be lit in various colours throughout the day, adjusting the atmosphere of the room to suit the mood and preference of the user. The swimming pool is placed within a semi-open courtyard that mediates the living room and the main form. The free-form pool is partially covered by a roof that is reminiscent of a canopy, something closely tied into the idea of tropical living that allows one to exist outside while simultaneously being protected from the elements. The large aperture in the roof, inspired by the Pantheon, allows for natural light, ventilation and precipitation into the swimming pool while simultaneously giving the roof a sense of weightlessness, allowing it to ‘float’ above the rest of the house. – Photos by Sash Alexander
