Cover The rear facade of this concrete home opens fully to the pool deck and lawn, with the cantilevered upper volume providing shade to the ground-floor living spaces below
The rear facade of this concrete home opens fully to the pool deck and lawn, with the cantilevered upper volume providing shade to the ground-floor living spaces below
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In Selangor, O2 Design Atelier’s Tropical Shift House is a concrete home that pairs raw materials with a sprawling garden, blurring the line between architecture and landscape
This striking home in Selangor, Malaysia, combines a monumental brutalist aesthetic with the deliberate foregrounding of the surrounding green landscape. Edric Choo, director and principal of O2 Design Atelier, explains that the entire concept was based on two considerations: first, the clients’ preference for a nature-focused residence and, second, the large expanse of available space. The project is named Tropical Shift House.
Above The street-facing facade is defined by the pixelated concrete vent filters spanning the full length of the bedroom band, which also function as sun shading and privacy screens for the rooms within
The street-facing facade is defined by the pixelated concrete vent filters spanning the full length of the bedroom band, which also function as sun shading and privacy screens for the rooms within
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Outer margin
Above Three circular cone-shaped skylights pierce the flat slab roof
of the car porch, which is supported by cross-shaped steel columns and spans a 200mm-thick slab engineered by T Con Lead Engineering
Three circular cone-shaped skylights pierce the flat slab roof of the car porch, which is supported by cross-shaped steel columns and spans a 200mm-thick slab engineered by T Con Lead Engineering
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The site in question consists of a pair of abutting lots at the end of a cul-de-sac. The conventional approach would have been to build across these two parcels; however, the clients were not keen on capturing the entire stretch of land. Instead, it was decided that the residence should remain divided into two halves, with the constructed elements on one side and a large garden on the other. In Choo’s words, this would be a ‘double articulation: a block that codes and orders, with an adjoining ground that remains open to drift, an interstratum between built form and the site’s wider continuities.’
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Above The skylight allows natural light to filter into the large porch overhang
Above The architectural shift between the two volumes produces a cantilevered balcony that projects into the surrounding tree canopy
The skylight allows natural light to filter into the large porch overhang
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Given the starring role of the garden, it was essential for the landscaping to be on point. The design team consulted with the clients themselves and with the contractor (HJ Bina Construction SB) to craft a unique outdoor environment. Rare trees were sourced and planted in rhythmic formations; meanwhile, softer-textured ferns and philodendrons were placed closer to the main building to provide the illusion of a jungle’s understory growth. From certain angles, the house itself even functions as a sort of patinated backdrop to the unprogrammed spaces of the garden.
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Above The powder room pavilion is cast in concrete using bamboo formwork
Above The interior of the powder room has a basin fashioned from a drain culvert and a curved skylight admitting natural light from above
The powder room pavilion is cast in concrete using bamboo formwork
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One of the most important features of the whole residence has to be the outdoor lap pool, since this area functions as the meeting point between the built structure and the garden. The calm rectangle of water marks the division between the two domains but its long edge also allows for a feeling of expansiveness. Choo enthuses about how ‘the view runs cleanly along the pool and the trees’; and the clients love how the layout invites ‘the kids to jump straight into the pool or to play football on a daily basis’.
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Juxtaposed palette
Above Rare trees planted in rhythmic formations by landscape contractor HJ Bina Construction SB frame the concrete volumes of Tropical Shift House at dusk
Rare trees planted in rhythmic formations by landscape contractor HJ Bina Construction SB frame the concrete volumes of Tropical Shift House at dusk
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Above The lap pool marks the division between the built structure and the garden, a threshold the clients’ children cross daily
The lap pool marks the division between the built structure and the garden, a threshold the clients’ children cross daily
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A dynamic tension is created through the use of contrasting materials and textures. The most dominant element here would have to be that favourite of brutalist architecture: severe grey concrete. While this material is omnipresent, monotony is avoided due to the constant variations on the theme. Thus, we find not only the smooth gleam of the flooring of the living-dining hall, but also the grooved feature wall of that same room and the bamboo formwork of the powder-room pavilion. One especially interesting feature would be the concrete vent filters of the bedroom band: their pixelated effect ensures privacy while also providing shade and cross-ventilation for cooling throughout the house.
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Above A plywood ceiling introduces warmth to the open-plan living dining
hall, where polished concrete floors and a grooved concrete wall set the material register for the ground floor
A plywood ceiling introduces warmth to the open-plan living dining hall, where polished concrete floors and a grooved concrete wall set the material register for the ground floor
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The rawness of the concrete is balanced out elsewhere by more refined or natural material choices. For instance, the predominantly concrete walls are sometimes broken up by plaster or paint finishes. In the living-dining, accents of warm woodgrain are introduced by the plywood ceiling. Meanwhile, the upstairs bathrooms stand out with their radically different colour schemes (whether burnt umber or moss green), along with the contrasting texture of the tiles and polished terrazzo.
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Above The grooved concrete feature wall of the double-volume living-dining hall rises the full height of the space, with views to the pool
The grooved concrete feature wall of the double-volume living-dining hall rises the full height of the space, with views to the pool
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Underlying movement
Above The concrete vent filters of the bedroom band line one wall of the family room, their pixelated pattern admitting filtered light while providing privacy and cross-ventilation
The concrete vent filters of the bedroom band line one wall of the family room, their pixelated pattern admitting filtered light while providing privacy and cross-ventilation
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The bungalow’s overall design is unambiguously brutalist in the way that it combines austere geometry, raw concrete, and imposing volumes. At the same time, an underlying sense of movement is never neglected. In fact, this concern is apparent in the second word of the name of the project itself, Tropical Shift House. The simplicity of the compact, rectilinear bar of the house is made dynamic by the deliberate displacement of its masses. This shifting not only creates a natural threshold towards the main street, but also serves as a visual cue that draws the eyes to the side garden. Choo adds: ‘out of this shift emerges an inhabitable seam, an overlap that is more sensed than seen’.
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Above The grooved concrete feature wall of the double-volume living-dining hall rises the full height of the space, with views to the pool through floor-to-ceiling glazing
Above The master bedroom balcony, enclosed within the shifted upper volume, looks directly into the tree canopy that surrounds the house on three sides
The grooved concrete feature wall of the double-volume living-dining hall rises the full height of the space, with views to the pool through floor-to-ceiling glazing
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A visitor moving through this residence will experience it as a spatial narrative. From the outside, the building’s calm, flat surfaces may appear closed off and hushed and almost static. However, this exterior quickly gives way to a deep car porch, which then reveals a sheltered entry court created by the aforementioned architectural shift. A narrow foyer momentarily compresses the sequence before releasing into the double-volume living-dining hall, which in turn leads to the unconfined exhilaration of the garden view. The wet kitchen, storage, and utilities – which Choo dubs the ‘working backbone’ – were kept close together to allow for the main volume to remain open and elastic.
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Above The master bathroom’s terracotta colour scheme is warm and welcoming against the greenery beyond
The master bathroom’s terracotta colour scheme is warm and welcoming against the greenery beyond
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Above The cantilevered concrete volumes of the upper floor project into the garden, with the master balcony situated at the point of overlap between the two shifted masses
Above The master bathroom’s bathtub is set against an open garden court planted with aroids, with the grooved concrete of the exterior wall visible beyond the glass screen
The cantilevered concrete volumes of the upper floor project into the garden, with the master balcony situated at the point of overlap between the two shifted masses
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Momentum is carried forward to the upper level. A diagonal staircase draws attention to the shift by dramatically highlighting the overlap between the two volumes. In Choo’s words, this ‘oblique concrete incision rises through the interstitial space, catching light and pulling one upward’. On the first floor, the main pathway transforms into a linkway that runs through the bedroom corridor and then projects out and becomes a viewing deck that overlooks the surrounding landscape.
Above The rear of the house at dusk, with doors fully open to embrace the garden and pool
The rear of the house at dusk, with doors fully open to embrace the garden and pool
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Ultimately, the house consistently extends outward and embraces the garden through its porous facades and edges. It is no surprise that Choo is very happy about the fact that ‘the residence manages to be larger than its footprint’. There is no denying that the two halves of the entire project are experienced as one.
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Photography: Pixelaw Photography
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