House of Spice

In efforts to reduce humanity’s ecological footprint and move towards a more balanced relationship with the environment, House of Spice balances the sensibilities of a tropical house while preserving the craft of architecture and design. With an emphasis on the ‘Green’ challenge, the house was highly ‘weather-inspired’ and green-driven. Instead of seeking partial benefits and focusing on solving isolated parts, the building was optimised as a whole. The architecture was conceived to achieve multiple harmonies such as terraces to grow greens and edible plants, tiers for urban farming and cavities for heat insulation, self-generating air-flow and natural sunlight. The design managed to tune architecture to nature without generating technological dependence and compromising the capacity and potential of the craft. It responds to providing sustainable and affordable solutions of passive architecture while creating a comfortable indoor environment. A terraced tropical strip for urban farming was created between the living spaces of the house and the party wall – separating and freeing the semi-detached house visually from the neighbour. These layered in-between spaces were designed to mitigate sun and heat, ventilation and light. The seamless flow of space with minimal walls uses built-in cabinetry as space defining elements and an integral part of architecture – placing further emphasis on layers and cabinetry as the thesis of the house. House of Spice is more than just a house – it is a study of methods and a library of materials. The concrete exterior façade against the warmth of composite timber-cladded walls, corten steel tiles and brightly painted steel plates is a playful and unexpected combination of materials. Exposed structural elements, raw finishes and temporary materials such as grating and perforated mesh are defining characteristics of the house. The interior finishes design evolved gradually and incrementally as a 'storage and cabinetry-driven' house while rediscovering the craft of joinery n carpentry.