Toh Heights

The home design was catered to a family of five and to contain least 6 ensuite bedrooms, with generous spaces for entertainment and recreation. A basement for music and theatre system was also desired, and this needs to be easily accessible. There is also a set of fengshui requirements that needed to be adhered to. These requirements basically set the placement main doors, location of bedrooms and the direction of beds. With a frontage that faces the west, it was important to articulate a façade that allows maximum frontal visibility without letting too much heat in. There are also two tall mature trees at the entrance, their sheer size and presence already set a level of prominence at the entrance. These factors then became the main design impetus in façade articulation. Fronting the street, the site has a generous depth- it is narrow at the front and back (west and east facing), and long at the sides (north and south facing). This itself is advantageous as the elevation that provides the best vistas is north facing, while the west and east façades are narrower. Hence this context itself naturally calls for a massing that is north-south oriented and set the strategy for the placement of openings. The building is to sit on the shoulder of a steep slope. One the lengths of the site is unblocked while the other faces the higher neighbour. This provide prominence and visibility to the building, a factor that needs to be managed carefully so that the building melds congenially with its surrounding. The organization of the spaces is intuitively derived. The public and entertainment areas are kept to the first and basement floors, while bedrooms and private domain is contained within the second floor. The attic, housing the gym, roof terraces and jacuzzi deck is a flexible space for recreation and entertainment.