Garden House @
18 Clover Close
Project Scope: Reconstruction
Completion: 2022
The corner terrace is blessed with a large garden and two large fruit trees along its side. In land-scarce Singapore, where most would maximise the utilisation of land and seize the opportunity to build a sizeable house, the owner chose to be at peace with nature. Keeping a substantial part of the original house to avoid setting back from the road reserve, the design navigated a careful balance between old and new, house and garden.
The garden is intentionally given space to grow, literally, and also to be natural—birds and bees make this their home, including visits by a pair of hornbills who regularly feast on the offerings of the fruit trees.
The garden and house are conjoined by a series of slide-away glass doors that, when open, blur the line between inside and outside. Rooms on the 2nd storey and above are generally given privacy through simple physical segregation, except for the staircase connecting all levels, which is topped by a trellised skylight that orchestrates endless permutations of shadow plays within the house.