INTERSTITIAL MOMENTS

In this lush, cleverly constructed Singapore home by Super Assembly, light, air and landscape speak volumes and animate the spaces in between

- Asih Jenie

Building for the future is as much a challenge as it is a thrill-it demands foresight, flexibility, and no small amount of architectural ingenuity.

That was certainly the case with this 7,000 sq ft home by Super Assembly, commissioned by a bachelor whose brief called for a six-bedroom, multigenerational residence: a tall order for a compact rectangular plot in a neighbourhood populated by two-storey dwellings.

Dubbed the In-Between House, the new build took around two years to complete. It stands on land once occupied by a semidetached home that had been in the client's family for generations. Designed with the long view in mind, it offers a spatial framework within which the owner's future and extended family might eventually reunite in their silver years.

The result is a cleverly layered residence that unfolds through a series of volumes, articulated with architectural incisions that allows for light and air, pockets of greenery that blur the boundaries between the inside and outside, and diagonal views that encourage interaction between levels.

STRATEGIC PLANNING

The project was led by architectural firm Super Assembly, marking a full-circle collaboration between principal architect Iskandar Idris and his former university tutor, architect Tan Teck Kiam, whose guidance during his formative years helped shape his approach to architecture. “One of the first things I asked was: ‘Do you enjoy greenery?’” Iskandar recalls. “He said yes—he liked having a garden, but also preferred being in air-conditioned spaces. That led us to explore how we could bring the outside in, how to blur those lines right from the start—especially within a tight site.”