The Stretch House

Responding to the narrow confines of the terrace plot, we stretched out the spaces horizontally and vertically, to create overlapping uses and well-lit spaces.

The building façade steps up from the front gate, with a car porch designed as the living room extension. A sculptural staircase stretches up to the skylight, bringing down daylight into the core. The front windows are extended out as bay windows, while the side ones are stretched vertically to bring light deeper into the master suite.

With very defined and restricted boundaries of the typical intermediate terrace, we wanted to rethink the typology by blurring the boundaries of programs, floor levels, room enclosures, daylight and ventilation enclosures. Car porch is seen as a living room extension; air well is seen as a dining extension; library is seen as a family area extension; staircase is seen as a sculptural artery linking the different split levels in different directions.

The car porch is seen more as an extension of the living room. This was created by having full height glass doors to allow maximum transparencies between the car porch and the living room. The roof of the car porch (timber ceiling) is designed as a gradual tiered roof before terminating as the highest timber ceiling of the living room, the created light shelves integrates the 2 spaces.

A multi-directional staircase was created in the middle of the narrow plot of land to create multiple permutations of visual interactions between the split floor levels. By stretching the floor plates up and down, intimate spaces and lofty spaces are created at the same time for different family activities within the house.