Tropical architecture

Avani Kalutara Resort is a casual two hour drive from the city of Colombo. The resort is situated on a prime strip of land where the views cover the lake, lagoon, and the ocean. The picturesque setting creates a unique atmosphere for a resort hotel. Caption Overall design concepts developed for the common spaces; reception, all day dining, suites, indoor and outdoor lounges, and bar were to emphasize on vibrance of resort living, by bringing in subtle hints of colour, whilst maintaining a balance between the architecture and interior design elements. Caption The reception area was uplifted with casual lounge furniture, and sand tone floor finishes keeping in mind the grand lawn beyond the open French windows. The white wash timb... More

House No.16 is located in Damansara Heights, a leafy residential suburb in Kuala Lumpur. The client is a young couple and their lovely pets. They had acquired an old 1970s bungalow that had been vacant for some time. The brief was to refurbish and add new living spaces to accommodate their needs Caption The old basic two storey bungalow had a small simple rectangle plan. It was constructed in a combination of RC slab flooring but also had certain upper floor areas with timber joists and floor boards. This gave the opportunity to conceptualise a clean modern intervention into the old structure whilst still achieving an industrial vibe. One long side of the house has a 6m high retaining wall which provided good privacy and the opportuni... More

The MTH Clubhouse is a facility from the Mawar Townhouse to carry out sports activities and semi-private meeting rooms. The clubhouse is the only communal building in this townhouse area, with swimming pool facilities, a mini basketball court, fitness room, yoga room, and a meeting room.  Astungkara Handyan A Initially, this townhouse was intended for international expatriates before finally being sold to the public. Mawar Townhouse is designed with modern and tropical style houses, so this clubhouse design strives to maintain the harmony of the style.  Astungkara Handyan A The site is the remaining land from the townhouse with an L-shaped building mass. The advantage of the L shape is that this building seems to welco... More

Guarumo is a contemporary residence located on the Costa Rican Pacific coast, where the characteristic tropical landscape is harmoniously combined with modern, simple and discreet architecture, all with a high degree of aesthetics / design.  Leonardo Finotti The project is located on a steep hillside, so the adequate positioning of the architectural program is essential to guaranteeing a proper adaptation. The staggering of its blocks favors a real adaptation to the topography of the site, minimizing the impact to the soils and avoiding large movements of land and expensive retaining walls. At the same time, it capitalizes on the spectacular views of both the ocean and the dense natural landscape that surrounds it.   Leon... More

Set against the enticing Kannamally backwaters in Kumbalangi, within the sprawling 89 cents of land, the beautiful residence is a picture painted right out of a dreamscape. Cocooned by the surrounding landscape, the majestic azure skies, and calm waters along the horizon against the verdant hues, the house is delicately designed to dematerialize into its backdrop. Spanning over 8200 square feet, home to a Dubai based banker, the house is designed to serve as a family holiday retreat in summers and a homestay all-round the year. Justin Sebastian Photography Context and Zoning Situated in a scattered residential setting, amidst the tropical greenery, abutted by an extensive water body on the west, the site is occupied mostly by tropica... More

A man who loves to travel, wanted a space - idam (ഇടം, Malayalam Transl.- space) to come back to; a space that reflected his journeys, both inwards and outside. This basic brief was manifested into a rugged, truthful and minimalistic home on a small plot of 2.5 cents in the urban outskirts of Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala The presence of roads on two adjacent boundaries reduced the buildable area and restricted the house footprint to a mere 4.7m X 12m. The site sloping down alongside the road gave access to the plot at two levels; with a porch for two cars at level one and a pedestrian entry to the building at the second level. These levels were used as a tool to create and connect spaces within this 2-bedroom house. The pedestrian entry ope... More

Luxury and pleasure in nature The Warm Breezes villa is located in Misiones-Argentina, a wonderful environment that flows into the interior and exterior spaces of the residence. This prototype arises from a 2-level shifted volume with east-west oriented areas.It is composed of a wooden folding curtain and beige stone cladding, leaving a warm and neutral appearance to the prevalent green. This dynamic facade is manipulated according to use, and can be completely open with the best views or closed to create a clean sculpture.Pure custom furniture interiors keep a neutral palette, and details of the exterior wood are added at certain points of contrast. We conceived the project to be a sculpture of pleasure in its fullness, with a doub... More

HAUS 18 is a private residence in Chiangrai, designed for a family who wants to break away from living in a confined space of shophouse but still wants a harmonious merge between the workspace and living space. The design of HAUS 18 intends to create sense of coziness, play with levels of privacy and provide the ultimate comfort of tropical living.  (Coziness)  The layout of the house is arranged in T-shape so all rooms have at least two sides which are in-touch with the outdoor greenery and fully taking-in natural light. The extrusion of blocks creates semi-outdoor veranda which acts as a transition between inside and outside, making the house more opened and relaxed. Using post tension structure, the span can be longer which r... More

The site is situated on a higher ground between a peaceful residential road access with approximately 1.3m difference in level at front and approximately 0.6m at the back, facing a beautiful golf course.   The design intends to encourage owner to enjoy and engage with: Semi-outdoor & outdoor spaces Greenery surroundings Tropical climate The house is designed to experience tropical modern living with a series of indoor, semi-outdoor spaces and outdoor spaces of different functions. It is generally planned with 2 main wings with a swimming pool in between with the intention to break the building mass yet increasing the building perimeter for the vistas facing the golf course. By doing that, it also encourages more visual li... More

House68 is a private family residence. The house is designed as a series of modern pavilions connected by large open terraces and water gardens. Each pavilion differs programmatically and allows for the large home to be sectionalized. A guest pavilion, an entertainment pavilion, a living pavilion and a service pavilion; each of which functions independently and may be sectionalized and closed off when not in use. This flexibility allows for the house to conform and to adapt to the changing needs of the family.   The design brief required that the house is able to adapt to the changing needs of a growing family for the coming years. The actual members of the family that will be staying in on a daily basis will change when their childr... More

The project is built over 2 plots of land located in the affluent and matured residential enclave of Damansara Heights, Kuala Lumpur. The average residential plot in the area hasa lot size of 600m2 with a standard double-storey housebuilt in the 1980s. The houses were of a small built up and generic.  Over the years, many homes were sold, demolished and rebuilt to reflect the current needs. Houses with more rooms were built to accommodate larger family units of multiple generations. Standards of living were higher with the increased in property value. Local guidelines also provided for the increase in storey height, density and size of homes.  These conditions encouraged an extended period of transition to the surrounding site.... More

This project is a conversation between Architecture and Nature. Set in the middle of a dense forest, the house pivots around a tree with its spaces shifting and stacking around it responding to its immediate context. The idea of the SHIFT-ing Earth stems from its response to its context. Change in context brings about change in the response. Such core contextual parameters were identified and synthesized into an algorithm that can be applied to different contexts producing different outcomes. This process helped us to populate the structures over the site of the township with unique solutions for every individual plot responding to parameters like Sun, Wind and Vista.  We looked into one such plot and explored more in the detail on th... More

Casa Guayacán is located in the mountainous foothills of Nosara. The property is surrounded by primary tropical forests and presents a splendid ocean view.   This house was designed by a couple of architects (Evangelina Quesada and Lucca Spendlingwimmer), who decided to move to the mountain with their two daughters to enjoy the tranquility that the mountain offers.   Casa Guayacán was conceived under a deep process of discussion between both architects, with different ideas and tastes at times, but with the advantage that both architects are lovers of contemporary tropical architecture and in this respect they agreed and were able to capture the concepts they have developed in common throughout their professional... More