Sited within the tropical heritage surrounding of the botanic gardens, the house was designed with the narrative of nature and its relationship with architecture. Building around the inhabitant’s experience, the house blurs spatial boundaries to orchestrate light and environment into daily life. Timber was the natural choice of material for this house, the crafted array of timber strips that form the screen around the house, vary in density to provide privacy where needed, yet diminish towards the top purposefully to allow plants to thrive. The specific selection of Kebony, a treated timber product from Norway, was chosen for its natural graying characteristic which further builds on this narrative of celebrating the natural in architecture. The house is green not only in design and spirit, but also in its operation. It comes equipped with a rainwater harvester and solar panels on the roof top that sustains everyday needs yet tread lightly on the environment. Contrary to resisting the elements of nature, the house pursues this idea of when the building stops, nature takes over.

Name: Fade to Green
Type: 2 storey semi-detached house with attic
Location: Jalan Harom Setangkai, Singapore
Site Area: 293 m2
Gross Floor Area: 406 m2
Status: Completed 2018
Architect: HYLA Architects
Principal Architect: Mr Han Loke Kwang
Assistant Architects: Chong Wen Jin, Thomas Ong
Main Contractor: : Emma Groups Construction Pte Ltd
Structural Engineer: GCE Consulting Engineers
Landscape: : Nyee Phoe Flower Garden Pte Ltd
Photographer: Derek Swalwell