From Old Bungalow to Modern Concrete House | Tropical Living | Open To Sky Bathroom
The architect curated every corner and interior design of this home as if nature itself is part of its architecture. Transforming an old home from this to this. With balconies, unique openings, and even a bathroom embracing the outdoors, this is a house that truly brings you closer to nature.
Have you ever seen a powder room like this? A unique space that is open to sky and framed by a slender vertical slit. Private yet connected to nature, revealing a first look at this home’s interesting architectural language.
“The house has been called The Shift. So the idea is actually how to spread across the best view of the house towards the surrounding landscape,” explained the architect, Edric Choo from O2 Design Atelier.
Beyond its perforated facade and solid concrete walls, you can never imagine just how open and green the house is inside.
“Okay, the site is actually there’s existing bungalow, two-story bungalow that is spread across the site. So we sort of like try to integrate with the existing bungalow and then taking some part of the bungalow. The site is actually surrounded by the landscape on the right hand side. But the client want to maintain the front part of the house to have a big landscape that is catered for the lawn for his kid to play at the same time also swimming pool,” explained Edric Choo.
“So instead of a big massive block like this uh where you can’t get the natural light to the center of the house, we split the house into two. Shifted the house to the right and also to the left, connecting it by a linkage uh between the two floor.”
Round ceiling openings like craters pour natural light into the porch, welcoming you with clean, honest lines and interesting structures.
“As for the house facade, there’s a series of ventilation blocks that have been introduced as a main facade facing to a neighbor. It’s screened off from the neighboring looking into the privacy of the internal house. For the entire car porch, it’s actually a flat roof. The structure engineer have designed in the way that there’s no beam. So it’s completely flat slab type of design.”
“Because it’s a huge carport roof, it’s quite dark inside. So we create these three semi-circular hole cone shapes that taper towards the top that allow a natural light to bring into the center of the carport. The nice part about this, when the light and shadow casting in the daytime, it create a very interesting welcoming gesture.”
A dark elegant stone entryway underfoot creates a dramatic entrance as the narrow hallway opens up into the living and dining area. The double volume in the living area is enhanced with louvered windows, maximizing natural ventilation and drawing light in.
“The living, dining and the dry kitchen is actually an open plan layout. The reason why we do open plan layout because it allowed the activity to flow.”
“The biggest challenge of this project is to intertwine or juxtapose between the very raw material and also very refined material. So we want to create the juxtapose and also interrelationship between these two types of material and also spaces.”
“So the feature wall we always highlight using the raw surface concrete. And this raw surface concrete is actually casted in the way there is a gap in between the plywood. Some part is chipped off and the client purposely want to leave it because that is a nature of the casting and that is a nature of the rawness of the entire feature wall.”
In the dining, a plywood ceiling subly marks the boundaries between the living and dining, adding warmth to the textured concrete walls. A dark marble island anchors the space, bringing contrast to the honest materials and creating a balanced and pleasing visual rhythm.
“The house is actually built floor to floor height 15 ft on the ground floor and 14 ft on the upper floor. Why we built out so high is because we allow air gap in between the ceiling space and also the roof. This allow air to escape from the roof. So the inside the room it won’t be so hot. There is a natural cross ventilation that we actually designed into the feature of the house.”
Overlooking the swimming pool, the ground floor creates a naturally relaxing atmosphere. Next to the pool, a small pathway draws you to a curious form. With an exterior of textured vertical lines, the cylindrical structure emerges from the surrounding greenery. A slim vertical opening offers a glimpse into nature and the pool.
“The main concept of the house is actually spreading across the landscape. So we purposely make the powder room as part of the pavilion inside the landscape. The visitor will actually step out a little bit few step outside the house and then enter into this complete raw type of rotunda spaces. And then inside this powder room it also a functions as a pool bath area.”
“And then the whole powder room is actually casted with the raw bamboo homok. We use a bamboo that split into half and then create the texture out of it on the top of the roof. We actually allow the natural light coming in and also the rain is very important.”
A staircase lined with windows facing the street draws in natural light, guiding to a dramatic double volume hallway that opens up to the living.
“The unique part of the house is also above the staircase. Most of the time the staircase have been hidden away from the exterior of the house. But, in this case, we actually highlight the slanting form of the staircase as a main messing for the entire house design.”
On the first floor, the minimalist master bedroom is immersed in nature on all three sides.
“The client in the morning he will open the sliding door and enjoy the breeze. And he can open the two side of the sliding door, one on the front of the bed and the one the other side on the left hand side on the bed. So this allow for cross ventilation,” Edric explained.
A cantilevered balcony floats above the greenery, a subtle extension of the bedroom that invites quiet moments outdoors.
“So that stretch is actually we purposely extend it can deliver out. It is reaching out to the landscape on the the other side. So every morning the client will actually go out from the balcony to overlook the landscape on the right hand side,” shared Edric.
“The unique part is lastly about the master bath where we using the red color, choosing a red tiles. So the whole bathroom is actually turning into red color from the floor to the bathtub and also to the wall, shower wall and also until the countertop.”
My favorite part of the master bathroom is the curated garden landscape, a unique element also seen in another home by the same architect called the introverted house. With the garden open to the sky, rain falls directly into the space, creating a serene and almost meditative experience.
“In the master bathroom, the anchor of the space, we always like the client to engage from the bathroom to the nature. We allow a big planter box that he can actually put in the feature plants. And this feature plants is actually open to sky and allow the natural light and also ventilation to come in.”
The children’s bedroom echoes the same neat minimalism as the master room, each facing its own pocket of greenery and paired with a uniquely designed bathroom.
“For the kids’ bedroom, we have a very long balcony linking between three kids room together. Uh the purpose of this balcony is to let the children step out from their bedroom so can enjoy the scenery.”
Their rooms are intentionally kept simple because the home encourages interaction elsewhere, with an open work and study area upstairs and a music lounge on the ground floor that brings the family together. As the study area is street facing, the perforated facade shows the home balancing openness with a comforting privacy.
“He’s a landscape lover and also he likes something which have a resemblance of we call the ‘Ah Ma’ style. The ‘Ah Ma’ style means the traditions of the house that links to our tradition, our roots. That’s why our house design circulates around this type of concept. So it is still a juxtapose between the modern and the tradition that we bring back the memory of the past to the modern houses.”
In a home shaped by light, air and nature, life unfolds at a slower, more meaningful rhythm. Here, openness brings the family together. It’s a reminder that when architecture truly listens, it creates a place to heal, reflect, and connect.
If you enjoyed this story, don’t forget to check out this stunning luxury tropical villa that opens to its own river and nature.
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