The traditional Chinese courtyard house or siheyuan is a typology well-known for its illustration of Confucian ideals, accommodating extended family units wherein many generations live under one roof. To live under the same roof means to live together, and this metaphor is the nexus that ties the notion of community, especially in an intimate context, to the form crafted for this project. For this private residence commission, Neri&Hu were given a set of unique requests by the client: the new house constructed in place of the previous one should accommodate all three siblings, who as adults have outgrown their shared house; it should include a small memorial space in the form of a garden for their late mother; and lastly, the new construction should retain the memory of the pitched-roof form, a defining feature of their childhood home.
In this project, dubbed the House of Remembrance, Neri&Hu has explored how notions of communal living and collective memory can be expressed spatially. The original site featured a lush vegetated edge that formed a natural green buffer along the perimeter, a feature that the designers have retained. The previous house was built in the style of the British colonial bungalow, with hybrid elements of traditional Malay houses such as deep roof eaves for rain sheltering, as well as Victorian details. Understanding the functional importance of the roof and the client’s emotional attachment to its form, Neri&Hu embraced the symbolic nature of the pitched roof and combined it with a reinterpretation of the courtyard house.
House of Remembrance in Singapore by Neri&Hu
The new two-story house organises all communal spaces around a central garden, which occupies the courtyard space serving as a memorial garden for the family’s matriarch. The ground level is extroverted in nature, with expansive glass walls to connect all spaces to the gardens along the edge of the site. Neri&Hu aims to maximise visual transparency from the communal areas – living room, open kitchen, dining room and study – so that from the ground floor the inhabitants may look into the central memorial garden while cocooned by the dense vegetation surrounding the house. Large glass doors can slide open, so that in optimal temperate conditions the house can take advantage of cross ventilation and direct access to the gardens.
For the upper level, Neri&Hu pursues the idea of the pitched-roof form as not only a signifier of shelter, but also an element that both unifies and demarcates 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. Skylights and large glass walls connect to bedroom balconies where views are oriented outwards to the perimeter garden spaces. Through sectional interplay, the design team introduce three double-height areas to connect the communal functions and the corridors above. These spaces of interpenetration create vertical visual connections to allow one to peer into the public realm from the private.
One can see a carved void in the roof volume, which frames a small tree before arriving at the central memorial garden. On the exterior, where balconies and sky wells are carved out from the volume of the pitched-roof form, the walls transition from smooth to board-formed concrete to take on the texture of wooden planks. The circulation on the ground floor is based on the shape of the circle to reinforce the ambulatory experience of walking in the round and to define the memorial space as a sacred element. Since the circle has no edges or terminating vantage points, it allows one to always find a return to the centre both spiritually and physically. The garden symbolically defines the heart of the home as an ever-palpable void, persisting as the common backdrop to the collective lives of all inhabitants.
The garden symbolically defines the heart of the home as an ever-palpable void, persisting as the common backdrop to the collective lives of all inhabitants
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The traditional Chinese courtyard house or siheyuan is a typology well-known for its illustration of Confucian ideals, accommodating extended family units wherein many generations live under one roof. To live under the same roof means to live together, and this metaphor is the nexus that ties the notion of community, especially in an intimate context, to the form crafted for this project. For this private residence commission, Neri&Hu were given a set of unique requests by the client: the new house constructed in place of the previous one should accommodate all three siblings, who as adults have outgrown their shared house; it should include a small memorial space in the form of a garden for their late mother; and lastly, the new construction should retain the memory of the pitched-roof form, a defining feature of their childhood home.
“Submissions were centred around Victoria’s need to connect, play, roam, to give back to the community and to proactively adapt for the unforeseen,” Naomi says. “The past year has seen changes in the way public places are valued, with the rediscovery and enabling of new forms of connection and expression. These places became the backdrop for social exchange, exercise and mental reprieve.”
The past year has seen changes in the way public places are valued, with the rediscovery and enabling of new forms of connection and expression.
AILA 2021: The best new gardens and landscapes in Victoria
Seven Awards of Excellence and 11 Landscape Architecture Awards were handed out across 13 categories, calling attention to landscape architects that went above and beyond the sole purpose of the project; champions of collaboration, placemaking and community. Recipients of the awards were seen to challenge and push the boundaries of landscape architecture.
For Heath Gledhill, president of AILA Victoria, the awards program provides a vehicle to publicly promote and demonstrate the positive impact landscaping has on Australian lives. “We are proud to celebrate the talent and commitment of the industry and are thrilled to see the depth and breadth of all entries and their commitment to ensuring the values of the profession are articulated throughout,” he says.
Across the categories of Civic Landscape and Urban Design, this year’s jury observed value placed on connecting people in a world now impacted by Covid. Winning projects in these categories embody the spirit of “bringing life to a city” that was concealed during a vulnerable 12 months. The projects prioritise healthy communities while also responding to the needs of an ever-growing population.
The theme of connectivity continued through to the categories of Parks and Open Space, Play Spaces, and Gardens, further highlighting the importance of green space and the vital role it plays. “Collectively, this year’s recipients stood out as exceptional places that connect communities, bring comfort by adapting micro-climates, and reveal the beauty of our state and our relationship with it,” Heath says. “The range of diverse projects awarded set an inspiring benchmark for landscape architecture and give the industry inspiration to continue to think bigger and broader into the future.”
Continue scrolling for a selection of the year’s best gardens and landscapes in Victoria, listed by award category.
Health and Education Landscape – Award of Excellence
Health and Education Landscape – Landscape Architecture Award
Health and Education Landscape – Landscape Architecture Award
Civic Landscape – Award of Excellence
Infrastructure – Award of Excellence
Gardens – Award of Excellence
Gardens – Landscape Architecture Award
Small Projects – Award of Excellence
Parks and Open Space – Landscape Architecture Award
Play Spaces – Landscape Architecture Award
Play Spaces – Landscape Architecture Award
Cultural Heritage – Landscape Architecture Award
Tourism – Landscape Architecture Award
Urban Design – Award of Excellence
Urban Design – Landscape Architecture Award
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