Meeting #3 - HYLA Architects

HYLA Architects was for us the most mind blowing of meetings. For one, this was the first meeting we had in a plush office in the most chic of wining & dining neighborhoods.

We were greeted in the board room by wooden models of some their more recent works. Light walls highlighted some of the glorious properties they've worked on, some of which are shown below.

If we were choosing an architect based on design alone (read "budgets not a priority") then these would be our guys. 

Also, they were very polished. They had a response for everyone of our requirements. Ventilation important to you? Please have a look at this project (shown on a large flatscreen TV built flush against the boardroom wall). Wow. 

They also shared something that I had never seen before. We got a copy of their portfolio and attached to that, a design questionnaire which sought our inputs on the use of the property and the requirements of each of the members of the household. Nice. I think that this should really be a best practice adopted by all architects. 

Did we mention beautifully bound too?

Han, the principal who spent the hour with us also promised to send across a budget plan for us to work off. This should help us understand the minutiae of costs involved in our rebuild. 

Han Loke Kwang

The principal of HYLA is an industry veteran. The Colombo plan scholar has won multiple architectural awards and most importantly specializes in rebuilds such as ours. 

I don't think that Han has made the job of architect picking an easy one for us. But he has given us plenty to think about. Primarily, if we should rush into this, or wait it out, consolidate our funds and spend the "right amount" only when we can afford it. 

Next stop, our friendly bankers. 

(Photos courtesy of HYLA Architects)

Reasons we want a new home

According to this website, the top reasons to build a new home include:

It's NEW!

No one else has ever lived in it before, so everything is clean and brand new.

Contemporary Floor Plans

Designs evolve. Old, obsolete homes may not address the way people live today. 

Customize Your Home

Build your home to order. You help design your own living environment, just the way you want it. 

  

Safer And Healthier

Wiring systems are up-to-date. Hazardous materials, such as asbestos, formaldehyde and lead, have been eliminated from new home building products. 

Energy Efficient & Technologically Current

Energy efficient windows. Better insulation technologies. Better control of air infiltration, resulting in healthier indoor air quality. Modern heating & cooling system. 

Financial Advantages

Build home equity. Roll the cost of upgrades into your mortgage and pay over time.

etc.etc...

The real reason why we're looking to build a new home now, is simply because our neighbour is doing the same.

woah *insert the squeaky sound of a record being played in reverse if you will*

It is NOT a "keeping up with the Joneses" kind of a thing.

a) they are a really nice chinese family so their last name isn't Jones

b) we do want to enlarge our living space to accommodate the needs of our quickly growing kids; and 

c) here's the story with what's happening with the Joneses neighbours.

Here we are Circa 2015

We live in house 'C'. An intermediate terrace sandwiched between two other houses. It gets a lil' dark, but no big deal so far.

What's happening now tho' is that our neighbours (Joneses "B") have demolished their home and are looking to rebuild it as a semi-detached property.

The issue for us, is that when we rebuild our home, we will no longer be allowed to redevelop it as an intermediate terrace; but rather we are obliged to build a semi-detached home as well. 

Now, having to change to a semi-d means that we loose ~30sq meters of living space because of a setback requirement. To make up for this loss of space, we will, in all likelihood have to add an additional storey (see MAN CAVE) and this means that the build we were dreaming of in the past needed to change.

So there - we don't NEED to rebuild. we just needed an excuse to do it.

Oh and the man cave thing.

Meeting #2 - REGULATE

AD LAB

Anyone remember the 1995 hit "Regulate"? no? HOW DARE YOU!?!? Warren G is the step-brother of Dr. Dre. The Mayor of Long Beach, California dedicated the week of August 1 to 6, 2005 as the "Warren G Week," because of the time he's donated time to the community.

Now go refresh your memory with this. No man with an entire week named after him should ever be forgotten.

Ok where was I? building houses? right. Still reeling from our meeting with Lee May Ann a couple of nights ago, we really were hoping that Warren Liu, Principal of AD LAB wouldn't be right for us. This was afterall a boutique Architectural practice with over 15 people and they do some pretty kick-ass, cutting edge, forward looking kinda design stuff.

AND we found him via the Straits Times in this article. 

BUT, since we started this hunt 2 weeks ago, and we had committed to this meeting since, we went ahead and dragged our feet to this meeting.

DAMMIT! We were once again blown away. This guy is good.

Warren really put us at ease. We thought that we were better prepared than during our first meeting, so we were throwing all the hard questions with our newly acquired architectural vocabulary. He was unfazed and wowed us with solution after solution, option after option. MOST IMPORTANTLY, this guy excited us with the possibility of new building methods and materials rarely seen in Singapore. If we appoint him, we would be pushing quite a few firsts in this country. I like. #granddesigns #KevinMcCloud

PLUS, his designs were quite kick-ass.

Photos all courtesy of  http://www.a-dlab.com/

This design I didn't like because I thought it was too modern & angular for me - but I think that there are still design elements I could gladly incorporate.

http://www.habitusliving.com.sg/projects/house-with-a-spiralling-garden

About Warren Liu

Ok - I couldn't bring myself to stalk the guy, so I haven't yet started to dig up his CV. what I did find is a whole bunch of awards including one from URA pitching him as one of 20 under 45. sounds like an impressive enough title.

Oh and here's a video of him

OUR WISH LIST

WHAT WE WANT IN A HOME

So - we have mentioned that we have been incubating this idea for awhile haven't we? No? Well we have.

Thanks to this GAWESOME (God-awesome... we're truncating everything now aren't we?) online tool called floorplanner  we have been able to sketch out our requirements for the Architects we've been meeting.

We have been reiterating to all these architects that the point of doing these plans is so that we can create a wish list of things that we want to see in our new home. eg. I want a man-cave - that maybe I'll share with my cubs (if they're good). My wife wants her personal space - so yes she's getting that damn wardrobe. etc etc.

So here are some of our plans... wonder how similar they'll be to the finished product!

THE GROUND FLOOR

Our wish list here is simple - we need a room for mum and her own glorious Asian kitchen (yes that's where all hell breaks loose with the propane tanks). For the public space, we envisage a swanky open kitchen with all the mod-cons and a couple of dining areas.

We get 20-30 people in every weekend - so take my word for it, we entertain quite a bit. we'll need the space. Of course, we'll have a formal living area (hereinwith known as the Swiss part of the house). (Swiss because of neutrality - nothing to do with hoarding tons of money that belong to other people). (or watches. really nice watches for that matter). (Note to self. stop using the parentheses too much)()()() 

THE SECOND FLOOR (ok the first floor if you're British)

Up one flight of stairs, and this should be the family sanctuary. We want a luxe bedroom with enough space for her (read wardrobe) and adequate space for me (read sofa in front of bed).

The kids want a room each (actually child #1 wants her own room. Child #2 seems to like the company so far). We think a "jack-n-jill" style bathroom (or in this case "Jill-n-jill") would be adequate for our 2 girls.

A 4th study and/or guest bedroom would also be ideal for visiting friends and family - trust me, we've got a few of those.

THE THIRD FLOOR (fine. Attic)

MAN CAVE. MAN WATCH MOVIE. MAN HAVE GUITAR. MAN HAVE AMPLIFIER TURNED UP TO 11.

I really wish there was room for a BBQ - or any kind of fire making device. will have to settle for the clothes dryer in the utility room up here.

Meeting #1 - Makk Daddy

Makk Architects

Ok - so maybe the title doesn't make any sense. Considering that Makk Architects is run by a wonderful lady - LEE May Ann (& therefore not a "daddy" of any sort). Also the word association that comes with a "Mac-daddy" often involves pink feather boas - not something that we want associated with our new home.

BUT I DIGRESS!

OK - May Ann.

I first learnt about her when scouring the internet looking for the difference between solo-practitioners and boutique architectural firms. This article came up. We quite fancied the idea of working with a solo architect who would be dedicated to one project at a time. there wouldn't be distractions, and there weren't overheads like staff and rentals that she needed to be concerned with...

She was an absolute joy to speak to. She tried to understand what our requirements were, talked about our wish list and then shared her design philosophy. We were floored. WE REALLY LIKE HER! more importantly, we really like her designs.

The words "organic", "tropical" and "comfy" come to mind

My wife asked if I reckoned we could be friends after this build... I wasn't sure if we really needed to see another architect... but oh no - I've learnt better than that. MUST. DO. DUE. DILIGENCE. (damn you public service training)

Courtesy of www.makk-pl.com

Courtesy of www.makk-pl.com

About May Ann

Having completed her formal architectural education in mid 1997 from National University of Singapore (NUS) with Honours, May Anne joined the then Housing and Development Board (HDB) in 1998 after doing almost half a year of back-packing and travelling to various countries. Her two and half years at HDB had built a firm and essential foundation on the reality of the professional practice. Moving from a large public sector architectural experience, she decided to join one of the largest architectural practices in the private sector - DP Architects in the year 2000, where she worked for about a year to gain an insight into how it differs from the public sector.

Argh - she even back-packs! what's not to like about an architect who has back-packed?

Photo courtesy of http://www.indesignlive.sg/articles/people/makk-architects-joys-of-a-solo-journey

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE LET US NOT LIKE THE OTHER ARCHITECTS!

AND SO, IT BEGINS...

Bland Designs?

We've been fans of Channel 4's Grand Designs since forever. Kevin McCloud is revered in our household and our 9 year old aspires to be an Architect. So what do we do now, that our heads are filled with all these delusions of grandeur, and we want to rebuild a new home?

1) We started by scoring the internet for architects that did all these awesome homes and wiled hours away, just dreaming of what a new home would look like. Our top 3 picks so far are a) Makk Architects, b)AD Lab, and c) HYLA Architects all 3 design very well for our tropical climate and appear to have some critical acclaim. I mean, hey. You want to dream big right?

2) We look into our bank accounts, close, repeat. We peek at balance with one eye closed and it still doesn't make a damn difference. Argh. 

3) We decide to measure out our house anyway. 

Hey! If we do decide to re-develop our home, it could potentially reap over 3500 sq feet of living space over 2.5 stories! More if we won the powerball and could build a basement!

4) check our bank balances again, cry a little

5) we bite the bullet anyway and give these architects a call. Let's see what happens next!