design et al are delighted to announce that Mercurio Design Lab celebrate further shortlist success in the Asia-Pacific Living Space Award with Villa Lambda in Singapore.
The aim by the designers was for a contemporary tropical house which used natural materials where possible, and passive cooling strategies. In addition, it was important to stay within planning guidelines while maximising available floor space. Also, it needed to comply with the client’s feng shui requirements.
The clients had many specific requirements which included a swimming pool with a terrace connected to the house interior, a double-height dining space with custom-designed furnishings, custom-created paintings,a large living area, two master bedrooms with en suites, three guest rooms with en suites, attic study and prayer room, with back door service rooms, gym, sauna and a wine cellar in the basement area.
The dynamic form of the building achieves this, but without seeming monumental. Rather than imposing itself on the site, the building seems to organically inhabit it. The client also requested parking for up to nine vehicles.The result is a house not just out of ordinary, but beyond ordinary. Its form seems generated from the geometry of deep space,unconstrained by the two-dimensionality of everyday world.
From outside Villa Lambda is a powerfully integrated three- dimensional form. But once inside, it becomes apparent that this is actually an exploration in the four-dimensional design, because the aerodynamic external form generates the interior spaces, including a number of customised interior fittings and furnishings, along with carefully chosen loose furniture.
The drama and invention of the external form is matched inside by a powerful, opulent and theatrical spatial elaboration. The client requested an interior which was unique in character and totally unlike its suburban neighbours. The interiors were to be grand, opulent and theatrical, but compliant with feng shui considerations. The aim was for repeated symmetrical spaces differentiated by palette and materials, especially the contrast of light and dark first encountered with the external form of the building. The interior of Lambda is intentionally made to work in hand with the architecture.
The house is mostly clad with Travertino Navona and Travertino Noce, creating an interesting contrast between darker and lighter tones. In the dining room hall that spans two floors and is visible from the second floor gallery that runs around it making it the core of the house, stands one of the most interesting pieces of custom-made furniture. The dining table is a slab of white quartz, ten meters long, that can sit up to twenty four people; the legs of the table are made of two large stainless steel stems shaped like the side stanchions of the house with their typical triangular profile; even their angles are reproduced to boast its resemblance.
If the exterior of the house suggests worlds beyond worlds, the interior is a world within a world, an internal expression of the house’s outer form. Curved and linear elements complement one another, while external graphic forms are re-imagined as combined functional and decorative features. This is given greater dimension by exquisite materials and finishes.