The Safari Roof house
Text: Ar. Maria. A
Photography:
Project: safari roof house
Client: private
Architect/ Design Team: smallprojects
Contractors: enshinsaito builders
Completion: 2004
Area: 585m2 total, 480m2 enclosed
Typology: single detached residential
The private house today plays a large and visible role in the public consciousness, as the ultimate personal sanctuary and shelter as home has always been important in the collective imagination. As the most familiar and easily accessible building types, houses have drawn more interest in architecture more so in the last decade then museums and libraries. The fascination with all things domestic is not limited to mass media. In the exhibition of MOMA New York on “the un-.private house” in 1999, the show took on its premise the fact that the home is not the private hideaway any more that it once was. It is now a place of fluid interaction of relationships with the public realm caused by attitudinal shifts in family, domesticity, work habits and digital media.
The idea of a modern house that opens itself unto its surroundings is hardly new. Indeed twentieth century modernists like Mies van der Rohe, Le Corbusier, Richard Neutra and Rudolf Schindler made the extension of interior space to the exterior a central tenet of their design philosophy. Where climate permits, contemporary architects take a step forward and integrate the landscape with the interiors in a ceaseless flow of spaces. Architects interest in site goes beyond dissolving external barriers, it also includes strategies for using space efficiently, increasing land values, especially in the world’s most crowded cities have put a premium on square footage. Perhaps the most readily apparent advancements in modern houses are the physical ones, materials, building systems and construction techniques. Home technology has evolved significantly since the energy crisis of the 1970’s. Advanced building products have become affordable and available. More efficient heating and cooling systems, windows and glazing systems that reduce heat gain are all taken for granted. But one major advancement that architects have learned is; how to better turn state-of-the-art technology into appealing architecture. Material innovation is not always undertaken in the name of sustainability or philanthropy; sometimes it is pure poetry of form that drives an architect’s experimentation. It would also be impossible to survey contemporary modern houses without delving into one of the most talked about trends in residential architecture; i.e. prefabrication. There is a growing market to fill the significant gap between developer housing and specially commissioned homes and architects all over rush to fill this need, with houses that incorporate factory made or pre-assembled parts which offer lower costs and high construction precision then site built homes.
One of the modern movement’s most enduring legacies is the dissolution of the traditional boundaries between interior and exterior spaces. Nowhere is the disappearance of exterior walls more revolutionary then in the realm of the private houses. Clearly, architects are still fascinated with the possibility of confounding interior and exterior space to make richer experiences in the private home. Convention tells us that architecture concerns the design of buildings. That interior design is what goes inside architecture and the garden or landscape is what fits around that architecture. Architects today continue the modern tradition of non-tradition, of breaking down old fashioned barriers between inside and out. Kevin Low the architect of the house is known for elegantly restrained buildings that create powerful architecture from simple, often white washed volumes and light. His muscular minimalism has received notice in various publications. Low designs striking minimalist houses that makes a strong visual impression despite the fact that it seems to have barely intruded on the landscape. His approach to projects has earned him opportunities to experiment and innovate on shoe string budgets. Low’s works raises questions on definitions of regionalism currently polorised between globalization coupled with traditional and climatic responses. He produces a gritty yet sensitive vocabulary for a modernist vernacular.
The clean concrete lines devoid of any pastiche and overplay of materials is an oasis in the tropical city of Malaysia. The continuity of interior to exterior the ambiguous demarcation between the two creates an interesting expanse of never ending land though in a dense area of the city. The Safari roof house was begun with a garden room. The idea of the garden room begins with the substance of context before the design of organizational space and space for the sake of form making, a simple exchange of emphasis which prioritizes the enclosure of context over the design of a mere building.
“The garden was not something designed around the architecture of the safari roof house. The architecture began with the garden.” – Kevin Low
Not because it cared less about the importance of good spatial organization and flow, geometry or design theory in architecture. On the contrary; it merely established the garden at the beginning of its spatial theory. It is a vaguely organic house. Not so much in form as in the manner in which it has been detailed to take the beating of a tropical storm and the sort of weather which typifies the tropical monsoon; a potent concoction of sun, air and water which will have sputum sprouting greens after three days on a sidewalk.
The safari roof house uses, as its namesake, a roof originally found on the series land rovers in the seventies: a simple sun-break roof sheet held off the body of the vehicle by small feet. It makes use of cross ventilated wind for tropical heat insulation, a heat best known for its degree of humidity. It is a house that has been designed around the room of its garden, a plantation of thirty six trees and five different species filling a large long ashtray disguised as a gravel compound to accommodate frequent parties, cigarette butts and the act of camouflage. The house is entered through a perforated gate which folds away from an awaiting visitor at the doorbell, along a gravel washed driveway and up a short flight of stairs to a large pivoted middle earth door. This door for ceremony opens to a view of a cement rendered pool and the landscape beyond screened by the trees of the plantation and ashtray garden. The rooms of the house are arranged around and are themselves screened by the east facing plantation. The west sides of the house are shaded by large walls of precast cement vent block. The finishes within are all variations on the common material of cement, from polished floors and rendered walls to plywood formed concrete ceilings and black bathroom floors. The house was designed simply as a shell to age with time and to receive the colour and life of dwelling within; its architecture hidden, in most part, by the foliage of its very first room, the garden.
Low’s work can be interpreted as tectonic with a sensitive intervention into the urban fabric and in borrowing materials and textures from the surrounding architecture. His place making is not derived from archaic notions of culture or traditional forms but are rooted to the present and his sensitive approach to materials available in Malaysia building industry. Low’s designs are inspired from Modernism and Post Modernism and the naming of his projects expresses the deliberate instrumentality governing their design.
Low’s Safari House in the Sierramas estate demonstrates the kit of parts approach with its light repetitive structures married to the playful use of sections. In this particular project the precast cement vent blocks give the project not only an almost ruthless sparseness but an identity visible from far off distances. With the floating roof which is a means for cross ventilation, enabled by the separation of the roof from the walls is a strong gesture towards developing an environmentally sensitive response.
It is a house designed to age, to take a coat of lichen or moss, a cooling skin of ficus pumila or a slick brown stain of dripping water.
Photography:
Project: safari roof house
Client: private
Architect/ Design Team: smallprojects
Contractors: enshinsaito builders
Completion: 2004
Area: 585m2 total, 480m2 enclosed
Typology: single detached residential
The private house today plays a large and visible role in the public consciousness, as the ultimate personal sanctuary and shelter as home has always been important in the collective imagination. As the most familiar and easily accessible building types, houses have drawn more interest in architecture more so in the last decade then museums and libraries. The fascination with all things domestic is not limited to mass media. In the exhibition of MOMA New York on “the un-.private house” in 1999, the show took on its premise the fact that the home is not the private hideaway any more that it once was. It is now a place of fluid interaction of relationships with the public realm caused by attitudinal shifts in family, domesticity, work habits and digital media.
The idea of a modern house that opens itself unto its surroundings is hardly new. Indeed twentieth century modernists like Mies van der Rohe, Le Corbusier, Richard Neutra and Rudolf Schindler made the extension of interior space to the exterior a central tenet of their design philosophy. Where climate permits, contemporary architects take a step forward and integrate the landscape with the interiors in a ceaseless flow of spaces. Architects interest in site goes beyond dissolving external barriers, it also includes strategies for using space efficiently, increasing land values, especially in the world’s most crowded cities have put a premium on square footage. Perhaps the most readily apparent advancements in modern houses are the physical ones, materials, building systems and construction techniques. Home technology has evolved significantly since the energy crisis of the 1970’s. Advanced building products have become affordable and available. More efficient heating and cooling systems, windows and glazing systems that reduce heat gain are all taken for granted. But one major advancement that architects have learned is; how to better turn state-of-the-art technology into appealing architecture. Material innovation is not always undertaken in the name of sustainability or philanthropy; sometimes it is pure poetry of form that drives an architect’s experimentation. It would also be impossible to survey contemporary modern houses without delving into one of the most talked about trends in residential architecture; i.e. prefabrication. There is a growing market to fill the significant gap between developer housing and specially commissioned homes and architects all over rush to fill this need, with houses that incorporate factory made or pre-assembled parts which offer lower costs and high construction precision then site built homes.
One of the modern movement’s most enduring legacies is the dissolution of the traditional boundaries between interior and exterior spaces. Nowhere is the disappearance of exterior walls more revolutionary then in the realm of the private houses. Clearly, architects are still fascinated with the possibility of confounding interior and exterior space to make richer experiences in the private home. Convention tells us that architecture concerns the design of buildings. That interior design is what goes inside architecture and the garden or landscape is what fits around that architecture. Architects today continue the modern tradition of non-tradition, of breaking down old fashioned barriers between inside and out. Kevin Low the architect of the house is known for elegantly restrained buildings that create powerful architecture from simple, often white washed volumes and light. His muscular minimalism has received notice in various publications. Low designs striking minimalist houses that makes a strong visual impression despite the fact that it seems to have barely intruded on the landscape. His approach to projects has earned him opportunities to experiment and innovate on shoe string budgets. Low’s works raises questions on definitions of regionalism currently polorised between globalization coupled with traditional and climatic responses. He produces a gritty yet sensitive vocabulary for a modernist vernacular.
The clean concrete lines devoid of any pastiche and overplay of materials is an oasis in the tropical city of Malaysia. The continuity of interior to exterior the ambiguous demarcation between the two creates an interesting expanse of never ending land though in a dense area of the city. The Safari roof house was begun with a garden room. The idea of the garden room begins with the substance of context before the design of organizational space and space for the sake of form making, a simple exchange of emphasis which prioritizes the enclosure of context over the design of a mere building.
“The garden was not something designed around the architecture of the safari roof house. The architecture began with the garden.” – Kevin Low
Not because it cared less about the importance of good spatial organization and flow, geometry or design theory in architecture. On the contrary; it merely established the garden at the beginning of its spatial theory. It is a vaguely organic house. Not so much in form as in the manner in which it has been detailed to take the beating of a tropical storm and the sort of weather which typifies the tropical monsoon; a potent concoction of sun, air and water which will have sputum sprouting greens after three days on a sidewalk.
The safari roof house uses, as its namesake, a roof originally found on the series land rovers in the seventies: a simple sun-break roof sheet held off the body of the vehicle by small feet. It makes use of cross ventilated wind for tropical heat insulation, a heat best known for its degree of humidity. It is a house that has been designed around the room of its garden, a plantation of thirty six trees and five different species filling a large long ashtray disguised as a gravel compound to accommodate frequent parties, cigarette butts and the act of camouflage. The house is entered through a perforated gate which folds away from an awaiting visitor at the doorbell, along a gravel washed driveway and up a short flight of stairs to a large pivoted middle earth door. This door for ceremony opens to a view of a cement rendered pool and the landscape beyond screened by the trees of the plantation and ashtray garden. The rooms of the house are arranged around and are themselves screened by the east facing plantation. The west sides of the house are shaded by large walls of precast cement vent block. The finishes within are all variations on the common material of cement, from polished floors and rendered walls to plywood formed concrete ceilings and black bathroom floors. The house was designed simply as a shell to age with time and to receive the colour and life of dwelling within; its architecture hidden, in most part, by the foliage of its very first room, the garden.
Low’s work can be interpreted as tectonic with a sensitive intervention into the urban fabric and in borrowing materials and textures from the surrounding architecture. His place making is not derived from archaic notions of culture or traditional forms but are rooted to the present and his sensitive approach to materials available in Malaysia building industry. Low’s designs are inspired from Modernism and Post Modernism and the naming of his projects expresses the deliberate instrumentality governing their design.
Low’s Safari House in the Sierramas estate demonstrates the kit of parts approach with its light repetitive structures married to the playful use of sections. In this particular project the precast cement vent blocks give the project not only an almost ruthless sparseness but an identity visible from far off distances. With the floating roof which is a means for cross ventilation, enabled by the separation of the roof from the walls is a strong gesture towards developing an environmentally sensitive response.
It is a house designed to age, to take a coat of lichen or moss, a cooling skin of ficus pumila or a slick brown stain of dripping water.
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