This Terrace House is Split Into Half | Amazing Transformation | Twin House |Architecture Ideas
Can you imagine living in the smallest terrace house in Malaysia? This terrace house was split into two houses mirroring each other. When we were passing by this neighbourhood in Bangsar, the striking steel cage facade captivated us. And we were curious about what’s inside.
The architect for this home, Wei Ping of Tetawove Atelier explains, “The project aims to explore housing typology for younger working class. Because of the current property price are really high. So they are quite difficult for them to afford to buy property nowadays.”
The facade greets you with slender white lines, a frame for pockets of green floating in mid-air. Left and right mirror each other, but not quite in perfect symmetry. It looks like a single home until you step inside and realise, the modest home has been split in two.
“We call this a twin house because we always thought it should be like brothers and sisters, although they are mirror image of each other. But there are slightly differences in terms of the facades and certain parts.”
“The size of the property is about 20ft by 60ft. We literally knocked down the whole building. We only keep the two parapet walls. So everything in between these two parapet walls are new.”
“The reason why we do multiple layers of garden decks on the facade is because we wish if we can, blur the conventional building elevation design. In your conventional buildings, you always see there’s a ground floor, first floor, you know there’s a third floor. But by doing vertical planting decks, we can blur that kind of sortification of different floors,” said Wei Ping.
“If you are inside the house, you can kinda like see this garden in front of your house. Wide folding doors open completely to the front porch, creating a seamless connection with the greenery. As you step in, the contrast is immediate. The green exterior gives way to a white interior that feels spacious.”
The dining area sits in front of the compact yet efficient kitchen. A strategically placed mirror beside the dining table doubles the sense of width, making the space feel generous. A slim metal staircase with wooden steps floats upwards, preserving sight lines while adding warmth.
“In overall, the construction of this building is using lightweight steel constructions. For example, the staircase we are using space frame and also on the decks, flying decks, I call it the flying decks. So it’s actually making you feel that the building is very lightweight and very airy.”
“We get the inspiration from lightweight airplane’s constructions, particularly Wright Brothers’ early airplanes design, which they need to do something very lightweight so that they can carry the airplane onto the air.”
Upstairs, the split level plan first reveals itself at the mezzanine. A hallway lined with shelves leads to a quiet study and a hobby corner. By breaking away from the usual full floor layout, the split levels create intimate nooks, each designed for a different moment of living.
“The house is divided into two units, left and right. Because of the narrowness of the space, we had to utilise the vertical space by creating a lot of different functions on the different split levels by using a staircase to connect it. Can’t increase the space. What we can do is that we have to go up, that means we have to go vertical.”
“Therefore, you need to have a very tall staircase to connect all the different spaces. We want to make it every turning, every landing for the staircase. It’s a usable space. Every time you come up to a landing and they become, for example it becomes a study, then you go up and then become a living room. And you go up further, it becomes a bedroom.”
In compact homes, using slim railings instead of solid partitions make even the smaller spaces feel open and airy. A few steps higher, the living area sits on its own split level. This quiet transition instantly marks the change in atmosphere. One space for focus, the other for leisure.
An entirely white interior allows light to bounce freely, giving the room a calm, spacious quality. In order to carry a three-story structure, we had to create whole new rows of columns, steel columns in between the parapet walls and also at the middle of the buildings so that it can actually support a new floor.
The master bedroom continues the white minimalist palette, keeping the space calm and uncluttered. Along the window, a sill extension doubles as storage space. In small bedrooms, consider extending the window sills to create a built-in ledge. It doubles as a shelf, frees up valuable floor space, and frames the window as a feature. In effect, curating the room to feel more spacious and more functional.
The second bedroom echoes the same design philosophies as the master bedroom, embracing minimalist white interior. The bathrooms are in all white, while a grid pattern adds texture. This gives the compact bathroom a sense of dimension, while keeping a clean and minimal look.
The unique feature of the bathrooms are the double-volume glass ceiling, flooding the space with daylight. Transforming the simplest routine into moments of calm.
“Okay, because of the narrowness of the site, when we want to put a bathroom, it had to be in the center of the buildings. But if you put a bathroom in the center of the buildings, you can’t get natural light. You might need to use mechanical ventilation to bring out the air inside. So what we do is by utilizing the skylight above, we can bring lights in and also exhaust to bring inside to go out. Therefore, you can see there’s a very long, a very tall atrium space in the bathroom.”
How can it be complete without a rooftop? At the rooftop, a compact laundry room opens to a versatile terrace. This space doubles as a practical area for drying clothes and a multi-purpose outdoor space for greenery or leisure. A useful tip is to integrate service areas like laundry with rooftop terraces. It becomes a space that is part functional, part recreational.
“I’m looking forward to a more flexible and hybrid usage of house. It can be a house with multiple entrances. A house with certain type space can be shared, for example, the living room, the kitchens, or they just share a bookshelf, a library, whereas at the same time, they can actually still keep certain parts, for example, their bedrooms, you know, it’s all separated.”
“I wish to see architecture works that can bring people’s hopes and can warm people’s heart. The Twin House is a story of how affordability doesn’t have to be compromised. Here, light, greenery, and thoughtful design prove that compact living can still feel inspiring.”
This is the Twin House, a small home with a big dream, to design a future we can all live in.
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If you enjoyed this story, don’t forget to check out the top 10 interior design trends from Nu Infinity’s stunning homes here!
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