What happens when you put a group of architects together on the same project? Will there be a clash of egos with one or two prima donnas dominating the conversation, or sensitive artists dropping out of the project in a fit of pique?
Well, that didn’t happen. Instead, this group of seven well-known local architects have created Dalvey Seven, a collection of seven Good Class Bungalows, each outstanding on its own without imposing on the others, in Dalvey Estate.
The project was headed by Ko Shiou Hee of K2LD Architects, who is no stranger to such collaborations. Besides K2LD, the other firms involved were Wallflower Architects, Guz Architects, AR43 Architects, Aamer Architects, ipli Architects and CSYA Architects.
This is the third time that Shiou Hee has spearheaded such a collaboration. The first was in 2004, when he led a group of five architects from Singapore for the Huafa Ecovilla project in Zhongshan, China.
While architects tend to prefer working alone, Shou Hee is one for collaborations. He is influenced by Japanese fashion designer Issey Miyake, who wrote in his book East Meets West that “my creation is never complete until the wearer wears it”.
Five years later, Shiou Hee worked with Vincent Lien, a grandson of the late Lien Ying Chow, to develop the banker’s home and the large plot of land that it stood on. For the Lien Villas Collective at Holland Park, Shiou Hee brought in Tierra Design, Terre, Zarch Collaboratives, Ministry of Design and Edmund Ng Architects.
In 2015, he was commissioned by a Singaporean family to develop their home and the large tract of land it sits on. Wishing only to be known as the DalveyS family, they approached Shiou Hee based on his track record with the Lien Villas Collective.
While architects tend to prefer working alone, Shou Hee is one for collaborations. He is influenced by Japanese fashion designer Issey Miyake, who wrote in his book East Meets West that “my creation is never complete until the wearer wears it”.
“Miyake is right. Architecture is not about the architect, but for the occupants,” says Shiou Hee. In an accompanying book on the project, Mr Ko wrote about how he believed in sharing ideas with his colleagues, clients, students and peers.
![home-decor-7-architects-dalvey-1024x576-1](https://sonadecor.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/home-decor-7-architects-dalvey-1024x576-1.jpg)
For the Lien Villas Collective, he assembled architects who were under 40 then. This time, he cherry-picked boutique firms that had already won acclaim for their work. The selection process involved shortlisting names which he presented to the DalveyS family, who made the final selection.
Shiou Hee says, “It takes a lot of maturity to talk to each other”, so he picked architects that he felt would be open to the idea of collaborating.
The DalveyS family had bought the 120,000 sq ft land in the 1950s and built a villa on it. The brief was to restore the villa and to have land divided into smaller plots. The garden itself was large enough to split into six GCB plots.
Plenty of Experience
The family picked Yip Yuen Hong, principal of ipli Architects to restore the villa based on his firm’s experience with such jobs. The remaining architects were assigned their plots through a lucky dip. Shiou Hee adds that they were given a chance to switch plots, but none did.
Shiou Hee’s master plan divided the sloping land into two, with the 1950s villa and two other villas, one by CSYA Architects and the other by K2LD Architects, on the hilltop with the four remaining villas on street level.
The architects worked on the same fees and briefs, which included protecting several Tembusu trees on some of the plots. Those villas were designed in a C-shape to surround the trees. The lower four villas – designed by Wallflower Architects, Guz Architects, AR43 Architects and Aamer Architects – were not to block the views and breeze from the three hilltop villas, which meant that they had to have flat roofs.
The DalveyS family had bought the 120,000 sq ft land in the 1950s and built a villa on it. The brief was to restore the villa and to have land divided into smaller plots. The garden itself was large enough to split into six GCB plots.
The architects had time on their own to design the villas but came together for discussions. “Each of us brought our models and placed them on the site plan, and it was then some architects decided that they should place their villas slightly further away from its neighbour so as to create more space in between,” says Shiou Hee.
On his part, Shiou Hee decided to design part of his villa facade in a crank form, so that its residents could better appreciate the facade of Yuen Hong’s villa. Each architect also neatly tucked away the back-service areas so that they would not be in view of the neighbouring house. The villas were completed in 2019.
![home-decor-7-architects-dalvey-masterplan-1024x576-1](https://sonadecor.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/home-decor-7-architects-dalvey-masterplan-1024x576-1.jpg)
Veteran architect Sonny Chan from CSYA Architects says that this way, “there is diversity in the architecture”, compared to other instances when developers might choose a cookie cutter design.
AR43 Architect’s Lim Cheng Kooi found the collaborative approach refreshing. “It brings back memories of our university days where we worked together in the design studio. So often, we criticised, shared and discussed our ideas together and this brings the best out of our designs. Somehow, we just don’t do much of that anymore”, he says.
Lots of Fun
Aamer Taher of Aamer Architects, who had worked on the Ecovilla project with Shiou Hee previously, says: “Collaborations are a good idea, because we are able to cooperate on how the relationship between each massing of the villas would relate to each other, thereby becoming friendly neighbours.”
Shiou Hee says opportunities for a private land owner to ask to build a collection of houses on site is rare. He could have done the work on his own, but “it is more fun to work together with peers than to do it alone”.
Old Dalvey
by ipli Architects
While the other six architects were free to design their villas, Yip Yuen Hong of ipli Architects had the challenging task of restoring and adapting the old villa to fit in with the new.
With the subdivision of the hilltop to now fit three villas, two ends of Old Dalvey had to be demolished. Still Yuen Hong managed to retain much of the existing villa while adding new parts to replace what was lost, such as several bedrooms.
“This house was to be kept by the family and we thought that it was important to preserve the essence and idiosyncrasies of the old house, so that it would preserve the memories of spaces for those who once lived there and for those who are to come in future generations,” says Yuen Hong.
![home-decor-7-architects-dalvey-old-dalvey-by-ipli-architects-2-e1618801476353-224x300-1](https://sonadecor.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/home-decor-7-architects-dalvey-old-dalvey-by-ipli-architects-2-e1618801476353-224x300-1.jpg)
A new reinforced concrete wall with the “imprints” of the existing doors and windows was erected on one end. On the other hand, where part of the building was demolished, the remnants of walls and floor slabs were simply retained.
A new service block was inserted, perpendicular to the existing house together with a new bedroom wing. The new additions are identified by the use of fair face brick facades.
![home-decor-7-architects-dalvey-old-dalvey-by-ipli-architects-1024x576-1](https://sonadecor.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/home-decor-7-architects-dalvey-old-dalvey-by-ipli-architects-1024x576-1.jpg)
Sail House by Guz Architects
Look through Guz Wilkinson’s portfolio of homes and one can’t help but notice that the founder of Guz Architects has a knack for designing nautically-inspired houses. Perhaps it is because the British architect decided to settle in Singapore after a sailing misadventure en route from Hong Kong to the UK.
Some of his homes have cantilevered roofs, and this villa also bears this eye-catching feature. From the road, the roof appears to have taken sail, giving the villa its name. The cantilevered roof isn’t built for pure aesthetic reasons, but it is all part of the design to encourage cross-ventilation in the villa.
![home-decor-7-architects-dalvey-sail-house-by-guz-architects-2-300x169-1](https://sonadecor.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/home-decor-7-architects-dalvey-sail-house-by-guz-architects-2-300x169-1.jpg)
Like some other villas in this project, it has a C-shaped plan so that the building surrounds a Tembusu tree on the plot. Another eye catching feature is the cantilevered infinity pool, creating an inviting entrance to the home.
![home-decor-7-architects-dalvey-sail-house-by-guz-architects-1024x576-1](https://sonadecor.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/home-decor-7-architects-dalvey-sail-house-by-guz-architects-1024x576-1.jpg)
See Through House by Wallflower Architects
How do you preserve a majestic Tembusu tree that is right in the middle of the land you want to build on? For his part, Robin Tan of Wallflower Architects designed a U-shaped villa to surround it, and the building appears to protect the tree.
The living spaces are spread across the two longer sides of the U, with the living room on one side, and the dining room on the other, but connected via a linkway. On the second floor, the bedrooms all look into the courtyard where the sole Tembusu tree stands, or onto the landscaped gardens surrounding the villa. As the plot is located next to the iconic Frank Brewer house – a pitched roof conservation bungalow built in the 1930s and named after its architect – Robin designed his villa to be understated and not call attention from its neighbour.
To ensure that his villa is suited for tropical living and yet still giving its inhabitants privacy, Robin employed a tried-and-tested method that he regularly uses in his other projects. The second storey facade is composed of movable timber screens that not only keep the sun out, but are a reinterpretation of the tropical louvred windows of old colonial bungalows.
![home-decor-architects-dalvey-see-through-house-wallflower-architects-1024x576-1](https://sonadecor.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/home-decor-architects-dalvey-see-through-house-wallflower-architects-1024x576-1.jpg)
Tembusu House by AR43 Architects
For Lim Cheng Kooi of AR43 Architects, it was an easy decision when it came to naming his villa. He called it the Tembusu House, simply because there are three Tembusu trees in the centre of his plot.
Since the trees had to be kept, Cheng Kooi conceived the area around them to be the courtyard for the villa. He designed the villa as two major blocks with a long spine that is used as a gallery space connecting them. This spine is placed in between two of the trees. One of the blocks houses the living space, children’s bedrooms and a family rear, while the other block is where the dining room, kitchen and master bedroom are. Another highlight of the villa is the facade which is cladded with teak wood that has been stained black. The metal brushed finish of the facade material exposes the grain of the wood to resonate with the aging bark of the Tembusu trees.
![home-decor-7-architects-dalvey-tembusu-house-ar43-architects-1024x576-1](https://sonadecor.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/home-decor-7-architects-dalvey-tembusu-house-ar43-architects-1024x576-1.jpg)
Gallery House by Aamer Architects
Founder of Aamer Architects, Aamer Taher, says that in land scarce Singapore, “it is hard to feel the sense of a large space. So if there’s a chance to create that, you should.”
His villa is an L-shaped bungalow, partly so that the building can avoid the existing Tembusu trees, a requirement in the design brief.
![home-decor-7-architects-dalvey-gallery-house-by-aamer-architects-2-300x169-1](https://sonadecor.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/home-decor-7-architects-dalvey-gallery-house-by-aamer-architects-2-300x169-1.jpg)
The upper floor of the two-storey villa is shielded by aluminium louvres that have been treated to look like warm timber panels, while full-height glass sliding doors on the first floor allow lots of light into the space.
By placing the villa close to the extreme end of the land, Aamer provides ample space between this villa and the neighbouring one. The large garden allows the villa’s residents to enjoy the feeling of space with views of the neighbourhood.
![home-decor-7-architects-dalvey-gallery-house-by-aamer-architects-1024x576-1](https://sonadecor.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/home-decor-7-architects-dalvey-gallery-house-by-aamer-architects-1024x576-1.jpg)
Orizuru House by K2LD Architects
Unlike the architects for the four lower villas who had to consider the preservation of the Tembusu trees on their sites, Ko Shiou Hee of K2LD Architects did not have this challenge to deal with. That meant he could have a little more fun with the design of his villa, which he describes as a “linear misalignment of two flanking pavilions, both of which are cranked in a dogleg form”.
When seen from above, the pitched roof structure resembles the body of an orizuru or paper crane.
![home-decor-7-architects-dalvey-orizuru-house-by-k2ld-architects-2-e1618801595616-300x300-1](https://sonadecor.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/home-decor-7-architects-dalvey-orizuru-house-by-k2ld-architects-2-e1618801595616-300x300-1.jpg)
The roof’s large overhang provides shade over parts of the home like the pool. On the side facing the Old Davey House, receding courtyards help to create more breathing room between the two villas. Timber rafters from the Old Dalvey House were also reused on some of the windows in the Orizuru House, to revive memories of the old house.
![home-decor-7-architects-dalvey-orizuru-house-k2ld-architects-1024x576-1](https://sonadecor.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/home-decor-7-architects-dalvey-orizuru-house-k2ld-architects-1024x576-1.jpg)
Long House by CSYA Architects
Tucked away in the furthest corner from the main road, is the Long House by Sonny Chan of CSYA Architects, so named because it extends across the length of its rectangular site.
The villa is shaded by a row of trees on the grounds on the Frank Brewer house. No stranger to tropical architecture, Sonny designed a pitched roof as its overarching architectural feature which also provides shade and shelter to different spaces within the villa. A slit in the apex of the roof allows for sunlight to illuminate the interiors.
![home-decor-7-architects-dalvey-long-house-by-csya-2-300x169-1](https://sonadecor.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/home-decor-7-architects-dalvey-long-house-by-csya-2-300x169-1.jpg)
Another highlight is the seamless connection between the indoors and outdoors, with the living room extended out into the garden, while the pool is roofed over to get that indoor feel.
This article was first published by The Business Times.
![home-decor-7-architects-dalvey-long-house-by-csya-1024x576-1](https://sonadecor.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/home-decor-7-architects-dalvey-long-house-by-csya-1024x576-1.jpg)