Inside an Architect Duo’s Zen ‘Jedi Temple’ Terrace in Subang

A home renovation that took a year to complete.

While scrolling through social media, we stumbled upon a stunning, cave-like home that instantly captivated us. With its dining room bathed in natural light from a skylight above and a unique indoor pond, we knew this wasn’t just any home. Intrigued, we reached out to the homeowners, Shelly and Zhe Wei, hoping to learn more about this masterpiece they call the 'Jedi Temple', inspired by Star Wars films. To our delight, they agreed to give us a tour of their home.

Since then, the home’s unique design has created quite a buzz on social media, with over 4.7 million views on Instagram Reels to date! Read on to find out more about this RM700,000 renovation.

About Shelly and Zhe Wei

We are both architects and co-founders of an architectural firm, Hereafter Workshop. Zhe Wei has over 10 years of experience in the field, while I have been practicing for 5-6 years. We met as colleagues in an architectural firm, and after working together for a couple of years, we decided to leave the firm and start our own firm.

We were looking for a place to live before we got married. I grew up in Subang, so buying a property in Subang was a natural choice. It's close to both my parents and Zhe Wei's parents, who live in Ara Damansara.

About the property

While looking for a property in Subang, we came across this 40-year-old end lot that measures 1800 sqft and has an additional 5 feet of side yard. Compared to other properties, this Subang home fits our budget, which is under a million, so we decided to purchase it.

We were deeply involved in every aspect of renovating our home, from the architecture to the interior design and the living room’s landscape. Designing our own home has always been a lifelong dream, and we’re thrilled to have had the opportunity to bring that dream to life with the very first house we purchased together.

And since we started our own company, we thought, why not turn this home into more than just a personal residence but also as our show unit to showcase to our clients?

While we do 3D renderings, we know clients often struggle with visualising scale, volume, and the overall feel of a space. By inviting them into our home, we believe they can better understand the quality of the space and the specific elements we wish to incorporate into our designs.

About the overall design concept

Zhe Wei and I called this house the 'Jedi temple' because of its cave-like, zen-inspired ambience. Our goal is to create a space that evokes a sense of intrigue and takes you on a journey — one where the design draws you in to pause and ponder.

The house is designed like a blank canvas, allowing us to focus on essential elements like the quality of light, the connection to nature, and the soothing sound of rain. The simplicity of the home design creates a deeper appreciation for these subtle, yet meaningful, details.

When it comes to colour, we stayed true to the 'Jedi temple' theme by incorporating a palette dominated by warm beige tones, complemented by touches of black and off-white.

Since beige is the dominant colour, we pay extra attention to detail when choosing the right shade. Our goal was to find a tone that best complements the natural light we get here. To do so, we came up with a number of beige options and tested them under the sun. Then we studied and see which one would match better with the roof, the powder coat for the aluminium frame, including the flooring material. After thorough consideration, we chose a beige with red undertones, which added warmth and depth to the overall design.

The home design is also heavily influenced by Japanese culture and architecture. We love travelling to Japan, and we wanted to imbue the same feeling of zen into our home.

We also designed our home to align perfectly with our busy lifestyle. With demanding work schedules, we prioritised creating a space that is low-maintenance and easy to clean. For example, we incorporated plenty of hidden storage, ensuring the house looked tidy, organised, and uncluttered.

Since our parents live near us and won’t need to stay over, we felt that having multiple guest rooms is unnecessary and a waste of space. So decided to downsize the original 4-bedroom layout to just 2 bedrooms, allowing us to expand the kitchen and master bedroom to create a more spacious, functional design.

The front facade and foyer

When designing the house, we placed a strong emphasis on form, ensuring that each element is not only visually appealing but also invites you to explore the space.

For example, the façade originally came with a car porch roof, but we removed it to create a taller exterior. This design choice gives the impression of height and grandeur from the outside.

However, as you step inside, there’s an intentional contrast—the foyer greets you with a low ceiling (2.4 meters), creating a sense of intimacy, like you’re being embraced by a hug. As you move further, the space opens up dramatically, offering another element of surprise. Overall, we designed the house with a ‘hierarchy’ of ceiling heights to create unique and varied spatial experiences.

Next to the foyer, you'll find hidden cabinet doors that are seamlessly integrated into the wall, creating a clean and minimalist aesthetic. This is where we kept everything from shoes to material samples.

The powder room

In the foyer, there’s a hidden door that leads to the guest powder room. Originally, there wasn’t a toilet on this floor, so we decided to add one for our guests. We wanted a small powder room, and this compact size turned out to be perfect for the space.

One of the biggest challenges during the renovation was creating the powder room door and the storage doors. We wanted a frameless door for a seamless, hidden look, which seemed like a simple request, but it turned out to be quite unconventional! Our contractor wasn’t familiar with how to execute this design, which made it one of the most challenging parts of the project.

The living room

Our favourite part of the house is the living room, which features tall columns visible from the outside, with glass gaps in between.

Building these columns was incredibly labour-intensive! They vary in height, so each one had to be custom-made from concrete. Once created, a team of 4 men had to carefully lift and position each column, one by one. To add to the complexity, each column is separated by glass gaps, and these gaps vary in size from top to bottom. This meant that each piece of glass had to be custom cut to create this unique feature wall in the living room.

We also thought about how the facade should be illuminated from the inside, so we installed a moon-shaped lighting, which looks very intriguing if you walk or drive past the house at night. The round shape provides a striking contrast to the vertical lines of the columns, enhancing the overall visual impact of the facade.

I love having coffee outdoors, but I’m not fond of being fully visible to the neighbours while I enjoy my morning cuppa. So, we decided to bring the garden inside, creating an indoor-outdoor feel.

Since the living room is a bit narrow, we decided to place the sofa slightly off-centre rather than pushing it against the walls. By leaving room behind the sofa, it tricks the eye into thinking the room looks bigger. It’s these subtle design choices that influence how we perceive the space.

The kitchen

We love hosting parties, and we try to do it once a month. Since we would gather in the kitchen and dining area, we wanted the space to feel interactive so the cook doesn’t feel cooped in a room and can interact with the person sitting in the dining area.

The kitchen features a long counter with buffet-style lamps that are adjustable and equipped with heat—perfect for barbecuing.

We cook frequently, so having a long-lasting stainless steel kitchen is ideal for us. It also offers a nice contrast to the overall cosy vibe of this home. It’s a bit edgy, and I think this type of counter is very classy as well.

We also thought about the flow of the space when we do chores. For instance, next to the kitchen, we created a service lane that provides easy access for disposing of rubbish directly outside the house.

The walk-in pantry

The kitchen typically has a lot of items, such as cooking tools, ingredients, and appliances, so we decided to conceal them all in a walk-in pantry to maintain that clean, uncluttered look.

The pantry is accessible through 2 hidden doors. We've incorporated plenty of display shelves to store everything neatly, and it definitely channels Khloé Kardashian's pantry vibes!

The dining area with indoor pond

Next to the dining table, we created an indoor pond as a focal point of the room. We wanted a natural element in the dining area, so the indoor pond allows us to appreciate nature from the comfort and privacy of our own home.

Additionally, having one whole stretch of skylight in the dining room is very dramatic, in our opinion. It allows the space to bathe the room with sunlight during the day. When combined with the sculptural tree in the corner of the dining area and the pond, you can’t help but stare and ponder this space.

It’s also quite nice to see the water reflection bouncing off the wall during the day. But the true magic happens when it rains. The sound of the rain, the view of it cascading through the skylight, and the feeling of being enveloped by it all create a serene, almost surreal atmosphere—it feels like you’re standing beneath a waterfall. The experience is incredibly calming and adds a whole new layer to the space.

The upper floor

On the second floor, we chose to remove the existing false ceiling and create a higher/taller ceiling. This helped break away from the typical terrace house design and give the space a more airy, spacious feel. We also changed the entire roof because the old roof was in poor condition.

The master bedroom

The master bedroom and en suite bathroom are made up of 2 original bedrooms. We wanted to create a resort-like atmosphere, so we positioned the bed centrally in the room. And when I wake up, I can see a nice view of the living room and indoor garden on the ground floor. Since there’s no windows, we installed floor-to-ceiling curtains that not only block out lights, but also help regulate the room’s temperature when the air conditioning is on.

When designing the bedroom, we also thought about the whole flow of the space and how it would fit our daily routines. Placing the bed in the centre makes changing the bedsheets more convenient. If I need to wash the sheets and pillowcases, I can simply remove everything and toss them into the washing machine, which is located next to the en suite bathroom.

The work stations, walk-in wardrobe, and hidden laundry

Adjacent to the bedroom is our working area, and it is well illuminated throughout the day thanks to the tall ceilings and glass windows.

Behind the workstation is our wardrobe that stretches the entire walkway leading to the bathroom.

During previous days, our parents often air-dry our clothes outside the house, which can be a hassle when it rains. Since we have a busy lifestyle, we decided to install a washing machine and dryer neatly tucked into our wardrobe. So we can just throw our dirty clothes immediately after showering, streamlining our routine and making laundry less of a hassle.

The en suite bathroom

We like the idea of having an outdoor bathroom, but it’s not very practical. So we chose to build our bathroom next to the skylight for an indoor-outdoor vibe. And having an open bathroom with no doors or windows gives a very sexy vibe, which is quite different from the rest of the room.

We install a black blind (pictured below) to avoid water splashes down to the lower floor when showering but can be retracted when not in use.

We chose to forgo downlights throughout the house, opting to experiment with various lighting designs instead. One of my favourite lighting features is in the bathroom, where we custom-designed a light softly diffuses upwards towards the ceiling, creating a warm, gentle glow.

The spare bedroom

We turned one bedroom into a spare bedroom in case one of us got sick. This room comes with its own bathroom, designed in sleek black tones, with a void above it for natural ventilation. I like to call it the Batman bathroom because the dark colour scheme gives off a bold, mysterious vibe!

To sum up

The design of this house took about 2–3 months, with one year of construction. Honestly, when we were planning it, we weren’t entirely sure how it would turn out, since this is our first time experimenting with this type of design. But once the vision turns into reality, it seems to have positive feedback from people around us.

Some aunties came to tour home and say, "Wah, where am I? It feels like I’m in another country!”

Since we only moved in a couple of months ago, we haven’t had much time to decorate the space yet. In the future, we’d love to add some paintings along the foyer to create a museum-like feel. However, we don’t have a collection just yet, and for now, we actually enjoy the simplicity of the blank space— it is actually quite nice!

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