Singapore, Republic of Singapore
Located in Singapore’s prime eastern residential enclave, MeyerHouse by WOHA Architects for UOL Group implements a series of passive strategies to lower the development’s energy consumption and improve tropical liveability.
Meyerhouse has recently been awarded a 2023 International Architecture Award by The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design and The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies.
Its 56 large-format residences on a 1-hectare site represent an opportunity for nearby landed homeowners to “right-size” into bungalow apartments-in-the-sky with expanded amenities and long views across the estate and an adjacent 1-hectare park.
The 5-story attic development is arrayed in a contiguous “C” configuration, with all units overlooking an internal forested garden and out across the borrowed landscape of the adjacent public park that was upgraded to create a seamless datum of expanded greenery with facilities benefiting residents and the wider community.
The building adopts a “House-in-a-House” principle by amalgamating units into a form scaled to a traditional French Chateau.
Its stately expressionism and uniform façade of bespoke GFRC louvers offer privacy to residents, screen building services, and abstract the building envelope into a sculptural form that is delightfully lit at night.
The internal undulating English gardens with flowering plants and tall trees are cocooned by timber blinds that screen residences and imbue the tranquil gardens with warmth and character.
An axial pool reinforces long views framed by a low-slung stone house that consolidates communal lounges and entertainment amenities.
A series of terracing gardens cascade down onto the lower ground levels, bathing the subterranean water courts and colonnaded walkways with natural daylight and ventilation.
Communal amenities are doubled by this additional sun-lit level, with the arrival lobbies, drop-offs, and gym sitting below the gardens above.
Residences are accessed off these gardens and water courts.
Arriving at their bungalows, residents drive up to their lower-ground private “car porch” and access lobbies connected to their upper-level residence via a direct home lift, where ultra-wide living spaces extend onto large outdoor rooms nestled amongst the greenery.
A combination of screens, blinds, and trellises offers residents control over privacy and openness to the gardens and nature.
Project: MeyerHouse
Architects: WOHA
Lead Architect: Chan Ee Mun
General Contractor: Unison Construction Pte Ltd
Client: UOL Group Limited
Photographers: Darren Soh, Finbarr Fallon, Andy Liew
