The brief was for a 4-bedroom house on 40 perch land, with all the service areas and related amenities. The question was how to organize the brief through connections, overlaps and separations of spaces to create the right matrix. Read Studio were taken on a tour to see the client’s existing house, and to see the little rituals that have been developed over the years that client would want to bring to the new house.

Read Studio aimed to incorporate the garden into the overall experience in various nuances: physical presence, visual and physical connections, shade and shadows, breeze and rustle, quality of light etc.The program was vertically organized, taking up a small footprint instead of spreading out on the site. Ground level and lower ground combined to create a solid base that embraces the ground and merges with the landscaping.The ground level is a self-sufficient mini version of the house, an accessible level that could function by itself,with a small living dining kitchen, bedroom, ensuite, and study.

Level one is the main“living”space. It has some unique conditions making it an exciting space: it’s covered and shaded, breeze crosses through, open from all sides, eye level at the canopy and foliage level of the trees.Yet the sunken veranda with a parapet feels covered, private, and contained.The upper level is the private sleeping quarters of the house, quietly retreating among the tree tops.

The monolithic concrete casting of the house creates a charm of its own in its imperfection. The joinery adds color and texture, timber brings warmth, and a combination of vintage and contemporary furniture elements adds character to the spaces.The house’s structure works with a staircase, a vertical riser as the main shear walls, and two sets of slender columns in the periphery to bring the roof loads down. The slender columns create a repetitive vertical rhythm that resonates with the tall tree trunks of the garden.

The ground plane was resurfaced and sculptured using the soil from excavations to create soft mounds and meandering paths in the garden. Instead of a manicured structured garden, the garden grows naturally, with a variety of typical home garden trees, fruit-bearing trees, edible plants, herbs, aromatics, medicines, vegetables etc.The soft edges of permeable paving merge with the landscape. Each level experience the garden differently.