Project: Cube House
Architects: Ming Architects
Location: Singapore
Area: 6,888 sf
Photographs by: Courtesy of Ming Architects
The Cube House is a whitewashed boxy contemporary residence designed by Ming Architects in Singapore. It offers 6,888 square feet of minimalist living spaces wrapped in a clean white facade with crisp edges. Surrounding it are beautifully landscaped gardens with plenty of plants of different kids complementing the crisp white look of the boxy shape of the home.
Taking inspiration from stacked volumes resembling boxes, the architecture design of this house resulted from the study of how carefully placed volumes can be utilised not only to fulfil the planning requirements of the brief, but also create many sheltered semi-open spaces which add a lovely charm to this home in downtown singapore. the casting of shadows on the white walls of the building add character and spatial depth to the facade, resulting in a minimalistic yet bold building form.
Featuring a predominantly white palette, wood is one of the thematic constants that is established right at the entry and weaves its way all the way throughout the rest of the house. Starting right at the porch, the wood element begins with the solid wood main door, extending all the way to the ceiling of the porch and easing surreptitiously to the side in the form of a slatted chengal wood screen that covers the full-length glass windows. As handsome as it is functional, this screen that is applied to quite a number of glass doors and windows provides privacy for the occupants without sacrificing light and views. Thinking out of the box, some of the windows and doors with no screens are instead framed by a steel canopy box with the same Chengal timber cladding – shading the rooms from the glaring sun. Fabricated from the same type of wood as the screens, this option flows much better with the theme of the house and is definitely more aesthetically pleasing compared to traditional awnings. Less truly is more. This is clearly seen in the clean and simple layout which maximises the light that infuses the entire house.
As the brief’s major requirement was multi-generational living, the planning was focused towards providing quality spaces for all parties comprising of the parents, and their children’s young families. This was done by seperating the private living zones to create ample privacy, while creating shared communal spaces where the families could interact naturally on a daily basis. dry landscaped gardens and ponds were employed to soften the edges of the ‘boxes’, by introducing greenery and water into the house.
Nature is everywhere in this house as gardens and terraces are peppered throughout the house on every level; from a small patch of green at the entrance on the ground floor and the tree on the first floor balcony right up to the garden on the roof, these pockets of lush greenery intertwine with the living spaces.
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