This house was built on the hills of Kuala Lumpur called Ukay Heights. The steep

site’s main feature was the existing huge rain trees nearly a hundred feet tall

with spread out canopies dominating the site.

Being up on the hill with its jungle like setting the temperatures are a little

cooler than the city. Hence the design priority was to preserve its natural

surroundings and take advantage of the cool breeze that permeate its

surroundings.

In order to preserve the existing slope with minimum cuts the structure was

designed that appear to “perch” on the ground or almost levitate above it. The

big shady trees and its canopy gave birth to the idea of a large canopy in

which all the habitable spaces would be arranged under the it’s protection

which shields the interiors from the heat whilst still capturing the breeze and

views though carefully arranged apertures and openings.

The house was designed for a family of 3 with additional bedrooms for the in-laws

with a Gross built-up of just over 10,000 sq ft. The brief called for a home

where the residents could enjoy the outdoors whilst enjoying the views out to

parts of the city beyond.

As the access of the house from the top of the slope, the house cascaded down with

the slope over 4 levels down. At the road level the house appeared as driveway

that led to the carporch and the house dramatically ‘disappears’ down the

slope. The act of descending down the slope became the narrative of the journey

in which spaces started to unravel. The internal spatial planning were planned

in a linear logical manner to meet the client’s brief but the roof plan was

deliberately designed to contrast this as if acting on its own set of laws. The

roof became the canopy that shielded the structured spaces below interacting

with the surroundings and topography. In the same way a tree’s canopy freely

spreads out seeking the sun above it’s structured trunk, the roof canopy was

designed to create shelter from the sun and rain extending its span almost

touching the earth below. All the internal spaces looked up towards the

sheltering canopy from the bedrooms, bathrooms and living spaces. The house was

no longer defined by the internal programmatic spaces but by the metaphorical

canopy. The structural I-beams supporting the timber lined canopy was revealed

much like the structure of a leaf with the midrib branching out to veins that supports the epidermis.

Below the canopy, all spaces were designed to be completely open when required to

the elements to absorb the cool breezes flowing up the hills with the central located

pool acting as a natural evaporative cooler. The residents spend most of their time here

below the sheltering sky of both the canopy of the house and the magnificent rain

trees.