This detached house is located in a typical landed housing area. It is surrounded by other landed houses except there is a canal in adjoining the front road, thus offering greater privacy from the opposite row. The project offers a unique opportunity to re-examine house typology where typically the only good views are towards the front and on the higher levels.
The brief for this house for a family of 4 is quite conventional. Besides the usual living, dining, wet & dry kitchen, the client asked for master bedroom, 6 other bedrooms and study rooms as well as a home entertainment room. A swimming pool, lift access and solar panels are also included.
Unusually for a detached house, the living areas are elevated on to the 2nd level which offers a view across the canal. This double volume space with its timber ceiling and terrace swimming pool is like a grand room in the villa tradition. With a courtyard at the other end the space offers complete privacy and redefines how a landed house in Singapore can be planned. At the side, 2 ‘reverse’ bay windows with planters are a playful addition to the composition. The mater bedroom is on the attic floor and landscaping line the sides of the room and creep out of the square openings of the concrete façade.
The house plan is symmetrical with a covered but ventilated courtyard at the other end of the living space. Clad in travertine, the delicate timber stairs weaves around a glass lift core.
The materials used for the house is kept to the minimum. The external façade is clad completely in timber grain off form concrete. The double volume living areas is clearly expressed in the front façade with the timber cladded planters and deep overhang.

Name: Villa Urbano
Type: Proposed New Erection of a 2-Storey Envelope Control Detached Dwelling House with Basement, Mezzanine, Attic & Swimming Pool
Location: Coronation Walk, Singapore
Site Area: 533 m2
Gross Floor Area: 741 m2
Status: Completed 2023
Architect: HYLA Architects
Principal Architect: Han Loke Kwang, Nicholas Gomes
Assistant Architects: Tiffany Ow, Coco Goh
Main Contractor: : Holden Tiling & Construction Pte Ltd
Structural Engineer: Thymn Pte Ltd
Landscape: Nyee Phoe Flower Garden Pte Ltd
Interior: Graceful Décor Pte Ltd
Photographer: Derek Swalwell