SPACE August 2022 (No. 657)
ONE ROOF, THREE PEOPLE
interview Lyndon Neri, Rossana Hu co-principals, Neri&Hu Design and Research Office × Park Jiyoun
Park jiyoun (Park): As its name suggests, the single house The House of Remembrance originated in the client’s memories. What was the nature of these memories, and how were they interpreted and realised?
Lyndon Neri, Rossana Hu (Neri, Hu): The project was named The House of Remembrance first and foremost because the client, in their brief, requested a structure that would honour the memory of a beloved late mother. Also, some of the keywords offered by the clients as descriptions of their ideal home were: sanctuary, peaceful, safe, and nostalgic. They emphasised that landscape and a connection to nature would be very important, too. Through this exchange and connected research, it was clear that memories and emotional attachments are strongly linked not just to static forms and functions (the spaces of a childhood home), but also to the living elements that serve as a backdrop to daily life. The design task for creating a residence in this case was not just to create a home of beautiful spaces, but to create a set of spaces in which new memories could coexist with the old, honouring both the past and the future yet to come.
Park: ‘One roof, three people’ is the core design concept. In terms of the roof form, which derives from a traditional Malay house, what are the advantages in terms of architectural composition and function?
Neri, Hu: Specifically, it’s two brothers and one sister. The previous house was a British colonial bungalow that had been suffused with traditional Malay features, such as deep roof eaves for sheltering from the rain. The new house retains the memory of the pitchedroof form, which is a defining feature in their childhood home, a symbol of protection. In this new project, the roof has its special meaning for our clients, so it is rather important. Understanding the functional importance of the roof and the client’s emotional attachment to its form, we embraced the symbolic nature of the pitchedroof and combined this with a reinterpretation of the traditional courtyard house, or the siheyuan. The siheyuan is a typology wellknown for its illustration of confucian ideals, accommodating extended family units wherein many generations live under one roof. The upper level is beneath the roof. We pursued the idea of the pitched-roof form as not only signifying shelter, but also as as element that would both unify and demarcate the public and private realms. All private bedrooms, located on the upper introverted level, are housed within the roof’s steep gables so that when seen from the exterior, the house retains the appearance of a single-story hipped-roof bungalow.
Park: In terms of architectural layout and structuring, how have you separated and connected the public and private spaces?
Neri, Hu: The public spaces are all placed on the ground floor creating a line of visual communication between families. All private bedrooms are located on the upper level. Skylights and large glass walls connect to bedroom balconies where views are oriented outwards to the perimeter garden spaces. Through sectional interplay, we have introduced three double-height areas to connect the communal functions and the corridors above. These spaces of interpenetration create vertical visual connections so that one is able to peer into the public realm from the private.
Park: There are eight entrances on the first floor.
Neri, Hu: There is one entrance leading to the foyer near the staircase, and another main entrance for guests to enter the living room. The other entrances you mention are possible once the sliding glass doors are open. These glass doors are meant to offer cross ventilation and to present connections between interior and exterior, but were not necessarily intended as formal entrances.
Park: The inner courtyard is composed of a circular flow to respond to the building that leads in all four directions.
Neri, Hu: The notion of the memorial for late mother was the client’s idea, but it was our design decision to place the memorial garden at the centre of the floor plan. This was to make the space true space of a celebration, piercing through the heart of the home. It also remains accessible either visually as a backdrop or physically as part of the garden path one crosses to get from one communal space to the next. The circular flow around the courtyard is about continuity but in a different way. Rather than directly working with a physical continuous landscape plinth, continuity is thought of more as ‘episodic’ in the scenes encountered daily by the inhabitants as part of their routine.
Park: I’d like to know if you have any concerns about using the material.
Neri, Hu: On the exterior, where the balconies and sky wells are carved out from the volume of the pitched-roof form, the walls transition from smooth to boardformed concrete to take on the texture of wooden planks. We played with the contrast between concrete textures so that the areas where the volume has been ‘carved’ is always expressed using the board-formed concrete. We wanted to create the contrast between the ground floor and the upper level, not just spatially but also in terms of material expression. The staircase in wood is meant to offer a transition from the concrete, stone and garden to the more intimate domestic realm, which is white and shielded from the rest of the house.
Park: Looking at the floor plan, it looks like a circle has been placed in a quadrangle with threads running in between. This creates a point where the quadrangle meets the circle, with striking results, as it coincides with this transition in terms of flow and intensity of illumination.
Neri, Hu: We intented to play on the geometries to express the guiding concept and duality to be found within the space. As you move along the curved walls, you emerge from the corridors out into more open spaces with lines of sight to the gardens. The interplay on curved/straight, light/dark, compressed/ expansive, low/high ceilings were all part of orchestrating a tension when framing the significance of memory to the central garden.
Park: Neri&Hu Design and Research Office (hereinafter Neri&Hu) is understood as an architecture office based in Asia with a unique style that doesn’t follow dominant Western trends.
Neri, Hu: We were both born in different parts of the world to that of our grandparents, we grew up learning multiple dialects, went to school in the West, learned English, and then moved back to Asia to practice our profession. Our background is formed of a mixture of many different things collapsed together. When we were younger it was extremely important to address the issue of identity in design as informing everything on which we work. Our design process was not greatly impacted by our cultural identity, but as we see it is a natural outcome of who we are, where we come from, and so our background inevitably will surface in everything we do.
KOREAN ARCHITECTS IN CHINA
interview Lim Sela senior designer, Neri&Hu Design and Research Office × Park Jiyoun
Park Jiyoun (Park): You have worked for Neri&Hu for six years, including as senior designer for The House of Remembrance project. In your view, what is the role of the senior designer and how do you organize your team according to this?
Lim Sela (Lim): A team at Neri&Hu typically includes one senior associate, one senior designer, and two or three designers. The senior designer manages projects from conception to construction with guidance from the senior associate. In The House of Remembrance project, I acted as a lead with my senior associate on my team, to oversee the project from conceptualisation to construction. This included regular site visits in Singapore to inspect the construction and coordinate with the client on the ground as needed.
Park: How involved is Neri&Hu in the development of the project? How influential are designers in the decision-making process?
Lim: Neri and Hu actively engage in all stages of project development, from design, construction, to inspection. The design studies and directions are driven by discussion with Neri, Hu, senior associates and teammates, and the ideas and opinions from the team are well respected and nurtured. For example, I suggested changes to the windows in the courtyard through a framing detail – from curved glass to straight – due to a budgeting and construction issue raised by the client and contractor. I should also note that the team often collectively decides on the necessary level of detail and materials to be used during construction.
Park: You also oversaw construction. Regarding the use of circular concrete forms, the areas where the circle meets the quadrangle are particularly outstanding—did you accomplish this through collaboration with a known contact in construction?
Lim: After the bidding procedure, we, together with the client, picked the construction company. Procedures such as client consultation and construction bidding are quite common practices in an international context. Singapore is a country known for its superior construction abilities. As Singapore has a rainy tropical climate, this company stood out for its experience in roof construction. Moreover, in The House of Remembrance, we were able to realise the desired design features following sessions with the local consultant regarding the pitchedroof with a metal finish and ceiling details.
Park: I understand that you undertake more site visits than the senior associate as a senior designer. As someone who visits sites often, I would like to know more about your personal insights and involvements regarding this project, if there are any.
Lim: In the case of an overseas project, because it is difficult for our team members to go on site visits as often, there is a need to put extra effort in terms of conveying the site situation accurately so that things such as details or finishes may be properly executed. However, sometimes, decisions have to be made on site and not at the office. In this project, there were about 30 kinds of trees on the original site, and they were all important because they all informed the clients’ memories of the house. In Singapore, the National Park Board must be informed before moving or cutting down trees. Most of the vegetation was preserved as it was, but some of it had to be transplanted due to the building positioning. I remember spending time contemplating this conundrum and making the decision on site in consideration of the view from the building’s interior.
Park: The design concept behind this project is based on siheyuan, which is a traditional Chinese domestic floor composition. Were there any difficulties due to cultural differences, particularly in terms of extracting, refining, and interpreting the concept into the design?
Lim: Before embarking upon any project, we always conduct an enormous amount of research on the cultural and historical contexts related to the site. As our team is composed of people from various nationalities and backgrounds, we have the advantage of having more resources accessible to us, a richer level of cultural exchange, and the desire to share new approaches and ideas during the research stage. China and Korea have many things in common in terms of their culture and history, and I’m always fascinated by these connections. Siheyuan in particular was inspirational, mainly due to its similarities and differences with Korea’s hanok. The idea that the rooms embrace an inner courtyard is a common feature, but unlike the liberal positioning of a hanok, many houses are attached to one another with shared walls and boundaries in the case of siheyuan. In addition, despite its more closed-off exterior outlook, siheyuan in comparison with the hanok features a more open structure towards the inner courtyard. These things were carefully studied throughout the project.
Park: You worked at Japan’s Sou Fujimoto Architects, Korea’s MASS STUDIES and SUH architects, and now at China’s Neri&Hu. Having experienced working in companies in different countries, what do you think is so special about Neri&Hu’s working method?
Lim: I think one can define Neri&Hu’s working method as an ‘interdisciplinary approach’. Every project begins with research encompassing various fields including architecture, history, and culture. Another feature is that each project is pursued through prioritising a constant channel of communication between the architecture team, product team, and graphic team. The general spatial direction is decided by the architecture team, but the details of things such as hardware and furniture are developed by the product team, while the signage concepts and details that will fill up the space are suggested by the graphic team. This process makes the project conception more robust. Thanks to this system and process thinking in Neri&Hu, I was able to widen my knowledge and experience beyond architecture to that of other fields. This helped me to think not in divisions of interior design and architecture but to see space as a whole.
Park: You decided to work for Neri&Hu instead of attending the Harvard University Graduate School of Design (GSD). What made you decide to work instead of pursuing graduate studies?
Lim: Architecture students in my generation usually attend graduate school in the US after graduation, but I questioned whether I really wanted or needed to pursue graduate studies. I thought it would be interesting to take a path not typically taken by others. Working as an architect in Shanghai was a big challenge, and every moment working for Neri&Hu has been interesting and inspiring for me. Work enabled me to learn by doing, especially as it allowed me to see and experience architecture, people, and culture in other Chinese cities like Yangzhou and Chengdu. Working for global high-end brands like Hermès, La Mer, and Amorepacific has also been valuable for building my portfolio and experience.
