HYLA Architects of Singapore and one of the one thousand architecture studios represented in the Phaidon Atlas of 21st Century World Architecture, has designed Toh Crescent, a 10-unit cluster of houses, separating communal and private spaces.
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- HYLA Architects: Toh Crescent
HYLA Architects of Singapore and one of the one thousand architecture studios represented in the Phaidon Atlas of 21st Century World Architecture, has designed Toh Crescent, a 10-unit cluster of houses, separating communal and private spaces.
Toh Crescent by HYLA Architects is a residential development consisting of a cluster of 10 semi-detached houses arranged around a central courtyard dominated by cascaded swimming pools.
HLYA Architects responds to a demand that often arises when it comes to residential developments with communal spaces, namely how can you protect the privacy and tranquillity of residents even in densely populated areas? Because let's be honest, sharing is all very well, but not always and at any cost! And unfortunately, sometimes getting some peace and quiet in your own home can be a real luxury!
Still, these issues have been architecturally addressed at Toh Crescent with great elegance. Each house has an entrance foyer and a small private courtyard facing onto the communal courtyard, acting as a transition zone.
The walls separating the public space from the private space have small openings to break up their solidness, acting as a screen while bringing in natural light and ventilation. Instead, the staircase curtain wall - set back from the courtyard wall - engages with the exterior. Only the first floor junior master bedroom of each unit faces onto the public courtyard, screened by timber louvres, which underscore the material nature of the project: water, stone, wood and exposed concrete.
HLYA Architects, again for questions of privacy, placed the living rooms at the rear of the ground floor, directly connected to the private garden of each unit. The first-floor balconies off the junior master bedrooms engage with the courtyard and water features, along with the rooftop terrace created from half of the attic.
Toh Crescent by HYLA Architects is a great example of “privately public” with design solutions that stylishly reconcile public space and private space in areas with high-density population, one of the major challenges of urban areas.
Christiane Bürklein
Architect: HYLA Architects
Project Team Principal; Han Loke Kwang
Architectural Assistants: Watinee Roajduang, Nicholas Gomes, Eunike
Location: Singapore
Year: 2015
Main Contractor: V-Tech Construction Pte Ltd
Landscape: Nyee Phoe Flower Garden Pte Ltd
Photography: Derek Swalwell
