Desa House
Desa house is located in the middle of a row of terrace houses. The terrace houses in this area have very interesting balconies cum car porch structure at the front.
We took cue from the existing car porch and designed structures that function as overhangs for the garage at the front and sitting area for the back garden.
On the first floor, the structures become planter boxes for gardens for the studio and bedroom.
Originally all the terrace houses had a courtyard in the centre of the house. Many were turned into rooms by the occupants, same thing happened to this house when the owner bought it over. We reinstated the courtyard to allow filtered daylight into the space with a tree in the middle.
The owner is an artist; he wanted to have lots of daylights into his studio on the upper floor. We opened the roof tiles and ceilings. The existing timber battens were used to support the skylight roof. At night, the studio lights make the house a lantern.
As this project had a very tight budget and pretty much no allowance for carpentry works, we designed and made most of the items in concrete, bookshelves, TV cabinet, kitchen, wardrobe and tub. The grills are of recycled metal from a laser cut factory.
The kitchen is moved to the front because of practical reason. Service backlane is not available for terrace houses in this row. Therefore it is easier bring the grocery back and rubbish out when the kitchen is at the front.
