Located within a gated community that retains a school within, the brief revolved entirely on the lives of the kids and how they would coexist as a family.

The house initially meant to be for the kids to grow up in and how the function of each space could potentially change as they grew up. Built on just 5cents of land, with a brief that focused heavily on functionality, the idea was to use up every inch of the plot and make it a usable space.

The team focused on reinventing the conventional interiors by completely transforming the idea of how the different spaces can be used during different times of the day and find ways to maximise the limited building footprint available and allow for seamless connection with the outdoors, improved ventilation and natural lighting throughout the spaces.The clients wanted a lifestyle upgrade with this new home, a place where they could entertain their guests, a place where all their neighbours and the neighbours kids felt welcomed, safe and comfortable, a place where they spend a lot of time as a young family, but each individual had personal space when needed. This called for a home with different layers of privacy in order to accommodate all these needs. And the challenge was to solve that when there are houses so close to each other, this being within a gated community were the houses were stacked together.

Our team at WOA worked closely with the clients to understand how to reimagine the way they wanted to live and envision how the spaces will be used by each member of the family in various scenarios. A restrained elegant and robust material palette was carefully crafted to create a sense of timelessness and calm in a home that is often overrun with young children. A home that evokes a sense of calm that fits their lifestyle amidst all the chaos.

The interiors were designed aiming not only to create elegant and robust spaces, it also accommodated the service and storage requirements of the home so that clutter could be minimised and maximum utilisation of the spaces could be attained.

The textural tactile qualities of oxide in soft greys, stained light wood carpentry and the use of cane furniture with bright pops of colour adds to the playfulness and creates a pleasant environment with a sense of warmth and enduring character. All the mill work, carpentry and framing details in the house were designed by the architects. The dark staining of the wood was achieved using organic dyes and through a process of trial and error to arrive at the perfect material and colour pallet that adds to the vibe and calming energy of the spaces.

The houses distinctive form is rooted from the need for privacy in various levels. In front the porch and sit out acts as a place of arrival created by a sieve of green plants and a series of mild steel frames that adds level privacy which makes meeting and greeting a more personal affair. The programmatic allocation developed from a simple segregation of private and social areas by understanding the clients needs and carefully curating the spaces inside.