STATUS. construction drawings

LOCATION. semenyeh, malaysia

TIMELINE. 2018 – on-going

NO. OF UNITS. 237 total units

CLIENT. spsetia

ROLE. design lead // designer

SPSetia is probably one of the hardest clients I have worked with. They know exactly what they want, and that’s as cheap as possible to construct. So even if there is a crazy design breakthrough, or a beautiful piece of architecture, they would still select the design that has the least construction cost.

I have worked on so many projects with these guys, and they get things done. This project at the time I wrote this (april 2020) is at tender stage. We are preparing the tender drawings and will soon start the construction on site. The location is pretty far to the office, so I will not be visiting the site as often as some other projects, but I will be posting some photos from the process once it kicks off.

CONCEPT ONE

The first design was to move away from that routine superlink look where all the units are identical, and maybe mirrored images of each other. Instead we introduced a peak unit, trying to break the monotonous rhythm of the traditional linked house with a burst of color and form.

We also really wanted to introduce a touch of masonry in the building design and we used a touch of natural sand bricks at the entrance and on the peak unit facade to create that warmth a home really deserves.

CONCEPT TWO

The second concept was of course the brick; the red, vibrant, beautiful, good-old brick! But we used it differently; we made it look a bit tropical, and raised it up to the first floor and away from the ground to stay away any kind of mold growing on them. We made vertical lines stand out using the strong color of the brick and complemented it with the raw feeling of bare concrete.