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Cove 55

Client

Private Person

Status

Completed

Location

Sarawak, Malaysia

Project Description

A large beach house for our client and his extended family. The site faces Mount Santubong on one side and Buntal-Santubong bay on the other. 

Our client recently turned it into a high end luxury villa for lease (www.cove55.com). Both the client and our office were interested in doing a “non-typical-Balinese-beach-house” from the start while looking back at how houses were built in colonial days.

"Ruding Kumang pattern wrapped round the building."

The layering of spaces rather than the architectural styling. The house we designed is reminiscent of a colonial plantation house with a long driveway, deep eaves, balconies and colonnade. It was a project that we designed from sections rather than plans. The L-shaped building is oriented diagonally on site so that the building is always viewed from an angle and allows for a longer driveway. The elevation facing the road and the entrance is mostly walled up with windows only on the first floor for privacy and to protect from the afternoon sun. The elevations facing the sea are layered with open balconies and verandas with rooms in full glass panes to maximise the view to the bay.

"It was a project that we designed from sections rather than plans."

The villa has 12 uniquely different designed rooms to give repeat guests a slightly different experience every time. The interior spaces are kept light with subtle details which allow the client and his family to showcase their rich and varied collection of furniture, heirlooms and local handmade mats and rugs. In memory of the client’s late wife, *Datin Amar Margaret Linggi who was an advocator of Iban arts and craft (in particular Iban Ikat weaving). we collaborated with her daughter Melia, to use a pattern from her late mother’s first woven kain piece called ‘Ruding Kumang’ for the functional yet decorative ventilation screens which are seen as you enter the house compound. The same pattern is used in the textured wall that wraps around the building. We worked closely with the tradesmen on the wall spraying and stenciling techniques to achieve the subtle ‘extra dimension’ to the building, especially when lit at night.

*(Author of ‘Ties that Binds’- an exhibition catalogue of Ikat Fabrics)

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