Pared down, simplified and minimal, architects are all reassessing what is really essential in life, reports ARTHUR SIM
Claudio Silvestrin, who has designed 18 villas for developer YTL Corp at Sentosa Cove, believes that architecture is akin to ‘composing poetry on earth in partnership with the earth…’.
WHETHER it is because of the constant talk about the economy, wealth destruction or the periodic stockmarket jitters, homeowners appear to have lost the desire to build ever bigger and flashier homes. Instead, the prevailing design aesthetic seems to be more about ascetism, as more people decide that living in excess is just so last century.
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| One of a kind: A house by Daniel Libeskind – Libeskind presents the world with a new way of living with his prefabricated villa (above) and a house by Mink Tan – who searches for the Asian soul in his architecture (next) |
Pared down, simplified and minimal, architects are all reassessing what is really essential in life. Daniel Libeskind, who designed Reflections at Keppel Bay, has perhaps gone a step further by designing a prototype of a house that is prefabricated and can be shipped anywhere in the world. He describes the house as ‘a limited artistic edition of a new space, of a new way of living, a total work of art’.
Called the Libeskind Villa, the four-bedroom house is a composition of three simple interlocking volumes that generate a myriad of geometric spaces. And in keeping with volatile oil prices, it offers maximum insulation and durability, cutting-edge technologies and compliance with some of the toughest energy-saving standards across the world. In designing Libeskind Villa, Mr Libeskind reduces the essence of a home to only the most critical elements and the design just stops short of being austere.
And there is no shame in austerity, especially today. Architect Gwen Tan of Formwerkz has even chosen to celebrate it. Describing a house she is designing for a client, she said that one of the biggest constraints was that the site was so tight it could only accommodate a very small house. Fortunately, her client’s needs were simple and Ms Tan decided that this should be ‘celebrated’. Continue reading
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