Top: The design of the house contributes to
passive thermal control of the interiors. The
concrete wall absorbs, stores and later releases
heat, while the trees around the house provide
natural shading. Balconies off the guest rooms
also reduce the amount of solar gain.
Above: The kitchen and dining room are enclosed
in a glass box, while outside this is a raised ‘living
platform’, which can be used as a gathering space
for guests or as a stage.
search | save | share at
So it’s an apt description for the house
he designed for an 8000m 2 virgin jungle
site about 40km north of Kuala Lumpur.
“There were over 100 trees on the site,
which also had a 20m drop across it. But
by using an existing natural flat platform,
we were able to construct the house with-
out destroying any terrain, and losing
only two of the trees.”
The open nature of the house stems
from the way Chan developed its struc-
ture as a C-shaped box, which presents as
a solid, raw concrete wall on the street side.
There is no front door as such on this
facade, but a smaller concrete box, wide
concrete steps and a void create an infor-
mal entrance into the home.
Behind the concrete wall is a second
wall – this one in brick – and the space
between these two walls forms the main
circulation corridors for the home’s ground
and first floors, and the roof garden.
“It’s a transition space,” says Chan. “You
don’t feel as if you’re inside or out. You can’t
clearly see the boundaries of the house.”
On the other side of the brick wall are