Sennett house

by SCDA- Sennett Estate, Singapore-2000

Client:

Sennett house is designed for a three-generation family

a married sister & brother together with their families share a compound with their mother

Ground Floor Plan

First Floor Plan

1.  carport

2.  forecourt

3.  reflecting pool

4.  service court

5.  entrance

6.  living

7.  dining

8.  dry kitchen

9.  guest room

10.patio

11.pool

12.court

13.powder room

14.wet kitchen

15.utility

16.maid's room

17.bathroom/toilet

Second Floor Plan

18.master room

19.bedroom

20.family room

21.dressing room

22.master room

23.bridge

Section

site area analysis:
-suburban area of predominantly low-rise, semi-detached houses, fronted by neat lawn
-British brought this low density housing model to S'pore & it served well in past, but the increasingly anachronistic in the current situation where it has become essential to use land efficiency at higher densities
- forced resulting the 'Urbanization of Suburbia'

Concepts: globalization

inexorable of western media, the extended family + the 'filial piety' are enduring Asian value

design analysis:
-2 linear units, mirror images of each other
-principal organizing element: linear central courtyard, extends from very front of the site to the rear boundary, relates to different activities within the adjoining houses:

#front = semi-public space
#center = private space, shared recreation area related to the entrance of houses.
#rear = become a service yard, shielded from the gaze of visitors by a head height wall

there are thresholds along the way which signal the transition from public to private area. At the center of the private domain is a dark blue reflecting pool

-entering through either of 2 entrance gates 1 encounter, a screen wall comprising horizontal slabs of grey granite which restrict view of the private activities of families
-moving either to left or right of the screen wall(a landscaped forecourt),precedes a short flight steps which marks the arrival in the raised center courtyard

SCDA Architects

SCDA Architects (Soon Chan Design Architects)
-the Architecture of Soo Chan
-

Design philosophy
-tranquility
-calmness
-qualified by light, space & structure orders

intersects Eastern and Western influences
-born in Penang, M'sia
-studied & trained: USA
-work: S'pore
draw on Eastern & Western traditions

concept of Globalization
-a natural part of social & cultural landscape
-using globally perfected building technologies & aesthetics
-composition array & material realisation that derives from the local geographic, geological and climatological realities.

a modern tropical Architecture 
1. he cut corners - he refuses to let the rooms remain stable spaces

2.he creates mirrored versions of the same house next to each other & builds whole neighbourhoods by fitting courtyard compounds, open spaces and roads ard each other in meandering pattern

3.buildings look like Modernist structure tat tend to dissolution into while panels, glass & exposed concrete

4.details pull to the context of South-East Asian region: slopping roofs appear,wood shutters, the rooms are open to each other to encourage the breezes to cut through the humid warmth


5.the free plan in design are grounded in classical ideals of scale and proportions

6.the spaces within the free plans overlap and are further defined through the careful placement and clear expression of walls and ceiling planes that intersect with or 'slide by' each other

7.compositionally these walls propagate from multiple 'centres' withing the flowing spaces

8.these 'centres' implied withing the open concept planning are reinforced when the spaces are experienced sequentially and hierarchically through choreography processions that recentre and realign the perceptual 'axis' that terminates in objects,landscaped vistas or open spaces.