A House with a little bit of SKEW

This suburban house if for a young family of 5, who wanted something highly bespoke and unique for their home. To achieve this, we thought that the design doesn’t necessarily have to be drastically different from the norm, nor does it need to be too revolutionary. We also believe in this idea of incremental improvements, where minute innovations on an old model can also result into something special.

So the conceptual thinking became about for instance going back to the idea of ‘the box’ and pushing it by just a little bit, stepping out of it by just a little bit, or coming up with a sound design with a little bit of skew.

The main challenge for this project was how to completely provide the abundant space requirements of the family within a lot that was not exceptionally expansive, while ensuring a constant integration with nature and its elements.

‘Maaliwalas’, is a Filipino word (with no direct translation to English) that describes spaces that are a combination of bright, airy, lofty, and refreshing. To achieve this, we emptied a u-shaped plan with a courtyard at the middle flanked with rooms on both wings. These wings have a shallow depth, ensuring that natural light reaches the entirety of the spaces within, as fenestrations are strategically positioned at the house’s exterior side and courtyard side.

These same fenestrations, positioned opposite each other, also enable all the spaces to be cross ventilated, which is imperative for houses in tropical settings.

Direct heat was ensured not to penetrate the interior spaces. At the second floor, the hallway was positioned at the south (the side with longest solar exposure) to act as a spatial buffer between the heat and some bedrooms. Windows were minimized on the souther and western sides, and canopies were designed to cantilever in an extra-long manner for areas with larger fenestrations.

Another challenge for us was to provide a variety of ways to live as a family - a feature which came in handy especially at the height of the pandemic where the entire world was stuck in our homes for long periods of time. We addressed this thru a) providing spaces of multiple function b) providing spaces that can be separated or combined, and b) providing abundant outdoor spaces across all floors.

These covered outdoor spaces ( e.g. porch, lanai at the courtyard, balconies, roof deck) not only allow a quick connection to nature and its elements (air, greens, sky, sunlight), but also provides variety of uses and functions. As there are no fixed furniture and that they are spread across all levels, all members of the family have the ability to be secluded in private moments from each other yet also connect and converge as they please.