Brief: The brief for this house for a family of 3 is quite conventional. Besides the usual living, dining, wet & dry kitchen, the client asked for 2 master suites, 2 study rooms and 2 spare bedrooms as well as a family area. A swimming pool, lift access and solar panels are also included.
Constraints: 1 Lily Avenue is a semi-detached house located in a busy commercial corner of Sixth Avenue. Around this site lies a popular coffee shop, a mixed-use development and condominium. The site also directly abuts Sixth Avenue with heavy traffic all day. The project offers a unique opportunity to re-examine house typology with a view to maximising privacy without sacrificing light and comfort. The house is designed as a retreat, and also a treat to the senses amidst the bustle of modern life.
Materials & Construction: The materials used for the house is kept to the minimum. The external façade is clad completely in grey facebricks, and the front elevation has stainless steel inserts which casts a playful pattern of shadows with the changing sun direction. This simple palette and private greenery provides a refreshing retreat for the occupants amidst a very busy section of Bukit Timah.
Design Features & Challenges: The design is a study in how to let in light and add greenery with the minimum means to the maximum spaces. 3 mini-courtyards are added, 2 along the party all and one at the side elevation. These mini-courtyard spaces ventilate all the upper level spaces including the bathrooms, wardrobes and staircase and corridors. At the ground floor, the double volume living and dining room look into the lush side garden which takes advantage of the row of road side trees long Sixth Avenue. The swimming pool enters the volume of the house and above it a carefully detailed brick screen lets in light.

Name: Re-Treat House
Type: 2 storey corner terrace house with attic, mezzanine and swimming pool
Location: Lily Avenue, Singapore
Site Area: 426 m2
Gross Floor Area: 466 m2
Status: Completed 2023
Architect: HYLA Architects
Principal Architect: Han Loke Kwang
Assistant Architects: Tiffany Ow, Tan Hui Yin, Doreen Kerk
Main Contractor: Toh Kum Swee Pte Ltd
Structural Engineer: Thymn Pte Ltd
Landscape: Green Forest Landscape Pte Ltd
Interior: Simplicity Space Pte Ltd
Photographer: Derek Swalwell