Stacked House

Stacked House is located in a private property enclave at one of the oldest housing estates in Singapore. Amongst the sea of terracotta clay roofs, this modern house will stand out from its surroundings with its bold and adventurous form. The house features 3 overlapping staggered trapezoidal forms, with a layer of glass windows separating and elevating the forms from each other. At the centre of the building lies a courtyard that has been carved out to bring in an increase in light and ventilation, while serving as a focal point for the house. The iconic form is created by the ‘staggering’ and ‘tapering’ approach applied to reshape the elevation. It is with intention to break away from the conventional “maximise and optimise” housing forms in Singapore, with land being a precious and expensive commodity here. Apart from ‘stacking’ the functional spaces on top of another, we took a step further by ‘staggering’ the 2nd Storey block outwards by 2 metres. The last step of ‘tapering’ the block into a trapezoid shape was a bold move as it reduces the amount headroom and potentially liveable space, but it brings an added character and refreshed look to the building. On plan, the courtyard serves as an anchor point for the functional spaces of and main circulation to be planned around it. Our design strategy was to alternate the spaces and the circulation around the courtyard with every subsequent floor. This allows additional voids to be carved out on each level, without compromising the occupants experience of the courtyard from all directions. It also helps prevent the courtyard from feeling enclosed in. The next main challenge was to create tropical spaces fit for the climate, while working with low headroom constrains created by the tapering form. We approached the challenge by setting in the glass line for the building to create generous sheltered outdoor patios on the upper blocks, allowing for the enjoyment of the outdoors regardless of the weather conditions. In addition, the staggering form allowed for monsoon windows to be added strategically on the floors of the upper blocks. These monsoon windows can be left open at any time to facilitate in cross ventilation, especially so on rainy days when the other windows are closed to shield the interior from the weather. To attain higher headroom for the functional living spaces of the house, a void in the roof of the trapezoid form is carved out and replaced with a layer of top hung glass windows. Similarly, these windows can be left open as it is sheltered by the staggering forms. These windows provide a clear definition between the stacking forms, creating a floating effect to maintain the iconic form.