A $6-million home

September 24, 2010 

Most people in Singapore do what they can to escape the humidity, many by spending their time in air-conditioned shopping malls and high-rise condos.

But Mr Stephen Fisher, a banker with JP Morgan in Singapore and a native Australian, wanted to embrace the tropical climate.

He has been in Singapore for a decade and he missed the outdoor life in Sydney, where he grew up.

“I wanted to live in an open space, not a concrete monolith,” he said. So in 2005, when 40 plots of land became available on Sentosa, which is 20 minutes from the city centre, he snapped one up, paying $3.5 million for the 7,800-sq-ft lot.

“It was one of the only plots in the whole country with ocean frontage,” said Mr Fisher, 45. “Being from Australia, that was prime.”

Finding the right architect – someone who knew how to maximise water views and a sense of unrestricted space, and minimise the need for air-conditioning – was the next challenge.

He chose Mr Guz Wilkinson of Guz Architects, a Singapore firm that specialises in eco-friendly tropical homes, because “we shared the goal of fitting the house to the environment, rather than the other way around”.

Construction, costing $2.4 million, was completed in April last year. Mr Fisher, who married soon after moving in, now shares the home with his wife, Ms Shijung Park, 32, and their one-year-old son, Scion. Another child is due in March.

The design is simple: Two glass-and-wood pavilions – one for living, one for sleeping – connected by a floating bamboo walkway, surrounding an ocean-facing infinity pool.

Undulating roofs are lined with solar panels that generate about a third of the energy the house consumes. Grass planted on top provides insulation to optimise natural cooling and a spot for the couple to practise yoga at dawn.

Sliding glass panels allow views of water and sky from every room and can be opened for natural ventilation. The floors are bamboo or limestone on the lower level and concrete painted in white epoxy upstairs, and decoration throughout the house is minimal.

“I didn’t want to feel enclosed in dark colours,” Mr Fisher said. “From my sofa, I see all the boats coming and going into the Straits of Singapore. With this moving canvas, why would I need to hang anything on the walls?”

In the rear pavilion, the sprawling 900-sq-ft master suite on the second floor overlooks the pool; the two children’s bedrooms downstairs open onto it.

But the most dramatic view is from an underground room, where a five-inch-thick acrylic wall offers an underwater panorama.

Initially, Mr Fisher baulked at the idea of a cellar, assuming it would be dark and confined. But “the clear wall solves the problem”, he said. “Even in the basement, I have a water view.”

Source : Today – 24 Sep 2010