The Water-Cooled House = One Giant Koi Pond
Written by Jennifer Heyns
While most architects would settle for designing a house to take advantage of bodies of water in the nearby landscape, Wallflower Architecture + Design would make no such sacrifice. The Water-Cooled House in Singapore makes use of water features incorporated right into the home.
The house sits among a plush and verdant wooded area, lending the site a tropical atmosphere. The architects opted for an unconventional method of naturally insulating and cooling the home: in-house ponds.
The entryway, which is vast and filled with natural light, also contains a vertical, circular void that connects the foyer with the pavilion located atop the house.
The pavilion is rich with deep wooden panels overhead and large glass expanses enclosing it. This is the ultimate in relaxation. You’d be sitting among the treetops with splendid views all around and the sight and sound of water to lull you into a state of euphoria.
Not many third-story sites can boast immediate access to water, but at The Water-Cooled House, such a thing is possible. Wallflower designed a rooftop pond that surrounds the pavilion. Not only does this feature add grace and splendor to the home, but it helps to insulate and cool the interior living spaces below.
In much the same effort, a koi pond lines the interior hallway, giving residents a peaceful and unique feature to observe while heading off to one of the bedrooms.
The water, while being a superb insulator, also acts as a thermal barrier, keeping the interior rooms from being overheated by solar gains. Additionally, the interior pond can capture and carry cool breezes that enter the home, cool the living spaces through evaporative cooling and multiply the natural light by reflecting the sunlight that enters the home through its glassy expanses.
What others have said
The Water-cooled House is very amazing. It gives splendid beauty and fresh air.
In that house it isn't that impossible to have a water feature at the topmost part. Great, great! It is well planned. Nice job!
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This home is unbelievable! I love everything that can be seen in these photos. Although I read a number of trade publications and am in the design field, I have never seen anything quite like it. Our firm does many styles of design, but our favorite is clean, contemporary with an Asian influence. The project shown here is planting some ideas for our future projects... Lanny Danenberg