Tropical Modern Villa : The R House

After featuring the unique architecture of the Floating Tree House in the southern region of Malaysia on Design Seed, we were motivated to travel to the south, to Johor Bharu again to explore another extraordinary home.

Nestled amidst a shimmering expanse of water, this house is a true aquatic heaven. As we approach the home, it becomes evident that this architecture challenges the conventional. Instead of having a traditional backyard, the architecture of this house is encircled by a serene swimming pool, blurring the boundaries between the living space and the aquatic landscape.

Imagine if you have a big plot of land and you don’t need it to be more than a single storey, how would you build it?

This article is dedicated to showcasing the R House designed by the renowned Dr. Ken Yeang. Ken Yeang is an architect, ecologist, planner and author from Malaysia. Best known for his ecological architecture and eco master plans that have a distinctive green aesthetic, he pioneered an ecology base architecture working on the theory and practice of sustainable design.

Dr. Ken Yeang shares with us, “The wife came with a sketch of what she wanted. It’s basically a courtyard house with a big space between, in the middle of the house.”

“So we thought, the wife enjoys swimming so we put a large swimming pool in the middle of the house. And you can jump in the pool straight away from the living room if you wanted to swim. At the edge of the other wing in the bedroom, you can do the same and jump into the swimming pool from your bedroom or sit at the side and dip your feet in the pool.”

To enhance the great sense of arrival, the threshold to the internal space is marked by a huge front door that is crafted to cater for many modes of arrival. Beyond the entrance of this remarkable architecture, there’s this open to sky courtyard with a healthy growing tree that punches through the roof. Walking along the aisle leading into the property, a koi pond stretches across the entire length of the property.

The architecture of this house is divided into 2 separate annexes. There is a private part of the home where the work studio and bedroom sits and an open floor plan for the entertainment annex. Where most architects and owners will take the opportunity to have an extra level, The R House was architect to be a single storey bungalow.

The R House is designed to have an impression of multiple floating pods, like water lilies floating above serene waters. And throughout the house, pockets of greeneries are displayed at almost every part and every end of each corridor. The orientation of the building is configured by the locations of the solar path. The generally open layout plan and landscape garden and courtyards take into consideration the client’s requirements for organic interaction between the various spaces.

The architecture of some projects we feature have beautiful pools and some have astonishing courtyards. The remarkable thing about the R House’s architecture is that it has both a pool and a courtyard. A pool courtyard that consists of a tropical pool and a semi outdoor patio functions as a separator and connector between the public domain and the private wing.

“We made this into a single storey house so that it’s easy to move about and so we basically reversed what most architects do. Instead of putting the kitchen and the service areas in the back of the house, we put it in one corner at the edge of the house but everything focused around the pool, the living space and the sleeping areas,” Dr. Ken Yeang explains.

“But we wanted the house to be breezy and so the living space has full height glass walls which slide from the left and to the right. But we did something which was an interesting experiment for us. At the corner of the glass house, the glass will slide out so that the corner becomes an open space and so the interface between the inside and the outside is much more intimate.”

“The outside balcony space and the inside living space blends together becoming one space and so it is no longer compartmentalised into one space, another space and another space. There is an organic relationship between the spaces and this is what we did to this house and this is what we learn from our project here,” Dato Ken Yeang elaborates.

The open plan layout of building allows for flexibility for ease of future plannings. There is a total of 9 usable rooms in this building that may be converted for different functions in the future. Upon entering the private annex of the R house, a subtle separation of a guest room is allocated. On the plan view, you can see two sides of pocket gardens that create layering of the architecture which also acts as a funnel that encourages cross ventilation.

The private annex houses five rooms, a master suite, two kids’ rooms, one guest room and a study room. The rooms are designed like water pods floating like water lilies on the surface of water. Be it from the pool or even from the rear garden, the floating pods remarkably sculptures and reflects the basics of fine architecture.

The landscape and the building are carefully designed to blend. The house is essentially surrounded by a linear garden, a koi pond with vegetation covered wall and a series of courtyards and rain gardens. Canopy trees are carefully positioned for solar shading. The greenery generally reduces the heat island effect on the property and maximizes the potential for shading of the home.

For the gardens, tropical palettes of bright coloured plants are carefully selected. Ensuring unobstructed views from the house to the linear garden, low-height decorative plants of native vegetation are utilised. As these native plants don’t require artificial irrigation, this creates water-efficient landscaping.

The house maximizes cross ventilation by having openings at both sides of the wing. A shallow floor plan creates natural ventilation in all areas, with windows and doors on opposite walls for cross ventilation.

Dr. Ken Yeang shares, “So people said “Why do you do it?”

“Why are you doing green design?”

“We do green design because it’s the right thing to do. I have achieved my purpose not just for the project. My purpose in life is an architect which is to contribute to enhancement of the quality of life of the people we design for. And more importantly to enhance biodiversity of the locality. We enjoyed designing the house because it was the house that gave pleasure to us users. I think why the most important aspect of architecture is to make people happy, to give pleasure to people.”

Who needs a house with staircase and multi storeys when you can have everything completed at a single level? Some would maximise the build up value and build up a mansion. Some choose to live moderately and contented. Which do you prefer?

Check out the full video on Design Seed’s channel!