Malaysian studio WHBC Architects wrapped this residence with a gridded concrete facade, designed to develop privacy even though delivering a frame for tropical plants to develop about the creating .

Tropical Box House by WHBC Architects

Named Tropical Box, the 670-square-metre house was built on a sloping site behind the condominiums and personal homes of Demansara Heights in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia’s capital city.

Tropical Box House by WHBC Architects

Developed for a family, the residence essential to offer privacy, but the architects also needed it to “embrace the jungle” with openings offering views of the surrounding trees – as nicely as a frame for the surrounding plant lifestyle to develop into more than time.

Tropical Box House by WHBC Architects

To accomplish this, they developed a 900-millimetre-deep irregular concrete grid, which produces a double facade close to two sides of the property.

Tropical Box House by WHBC Architects

“The undertaking was envisioned as an inward-searching abode that safeguards its interior from the tropical sun and rain even though at the identical time, embraces the dense, organic floral enclave that the residence sits inside of,” mentioned studio founders Wen Hsia and BC Ang.


Related story: Malaysian island home by WHBC created from reclaimed telegraph poles


“We developed a concrete egg-crate construction that envelopes the residence to hold the heat out, but draws daylight in to generate relaxed spaces within,” they explained.

Tropical Box House by WHBC Architects

At the rear, the grid continues past the solid walls to create a sheltered deck and swimming pool at canopy level.

Tropical Box House by WHBC Architects

“The perforated nature of this envelope enables the existing overgrowth to increase into the volume of the house, thus softening the boundary of within and outdoors,” stated the architects, whose prior tasks contain a residence developed from reclaimed telegraph poles.

Raw concrete was also utilized for a series of 150-millimetre-thick fins, positioned at angles to produce a single wall. These provide structural reinforcements and tall, narrow openings, which – in accordance to the architects – also help regulate the intensity of the light that penetrates the interior.

Tropical Box House by WHBC Architects

To make the most of the 975-square-metre site’s topography, the home is supported on stilts – a well-known resolution that has been used for houses all more than the globe, which includes a concrete residence in Argentina and a steel and timber holiday residence in Sri Lanka.

Tropical Box House by WHBC Architects

This raises the residing spaces above the ground to hold out pests and support regulate humidity, as well as creating the most of the views.

Tropical Box House by WHBC Architects

“The design will take advantage of the sloping terrain to hold the dampness and humidity out within a tropical atmosphere,” stated the architects.

“The spaces are arranged to keep most components of the residence raised from the ground. This elevates the property to sit amid the canopy of trees.”

Tropical Box House by WHBC Architects

The entrance is accessed by way of a bridge that gently slopes up in excess of an area planted with mature Albizia trees. A concrete canopy is punctured with rectangular openings to let the trees to poke by means of.

Tropical Box House by WHBC Architects

A ramp to one side of the front yard leads down to a garage space for three vehicles on the reduce ground floor level, which also homes utility rooms.

Tropical Box House by WHBC Architects

A narrow walkway leads via from the entrance, past an en-suite bedroom and a lounge area, to a little flight of steps that opens onto the principal residing spaces.

Tropical Box House by WHBC Architects

The pool extends out from the residing and dining areas in a double-height space, with a void on a single side. The end is left open, giving a panoramic see of the jungle past the city.

“The pool and the adjoining backyard are enclosed inside of the volume of this egg-crate structure,” explained the architects. “These spaces are completely surrounded by green foliage as they hover close to the tropical canopy.”

Tropical Box House by WHBC Architects

The kitchen is tucked behind the walkway. A protrusion from the side of the developing houses a sink and planning surfaces, with an open wall that overlooks the garden beneath. A equivalent protrusion contains an enclosed bathroom spot beside the deck that leads to the swimming pool.

A staircase on 1 side of the walkway supplies accessibility to the upper floor, exactly where the bedrooms are positioned, with windows positioned to optimise views of the trees past.

Tropical Box House by WHBC Architects

Photography is by Kent Soh.


Undertaking credits:

Architects: WHBC Architects
Engineers: Projurutek Sdn Bhd
Builders: CHB Building, Ming Seng Development

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