Yip Yuen Hong’s strong affinity with both materials and craftsmanship is evident in his body of work, in which ordinary materials are given new expression. His projects are meticulously interrogated and detailed. Problem areas and limitations are perceived as avenues to stretch the creative process. This affinity with detail and appropriate scale was apparent even in his final year project (1987) at the National University of Singapore in his reconstruction of an Ellenborough Street shophouse (see page 217).

Yip has a particular interest in tropical architecture and is developing and refining a contemporary tropical language. He refers, perhaps in jest, to his residential projects as ‘modern kampong houses’. The Cable Road house is best described as a ‘pavilion in a garden’. The organization of the plan shows sharp clarity–at ground level, a long, rectangular pavilion houses a guest suite, the kitchen, the dining area followed by the living area, and a bedroom suite in a linear form.

This strong axial quality contrasts with the lateral views into the garden. Entry is via a linear entrance lobby on the southern flank, and immediately the quality of detailing is evident. Vertical glazed louvres form the south wall of the lobby, permitting natural ventilation.

The spacious living and dining area is flanked by sliding timber shutters on both the north and south elevations. The shutters are generally drawn back during the day, allowing the living space to extend out to timber verandahs and the luxuriant garden that encircles the house. The house is comfortable without the use of air conditioning, and when the shutters are open there is a constant gentle breeze. When a storm breaks, the ambience is enthralling as rain-water gushes off the pitched roof and plunges as a vertical sheet of water into the surrounding ponds.

Essentially, the house is a timber box perched atop a transparent base, with grey textured concrete planar internal walls and circular columns. Other materials used in constructing the house include timber, polished granite and hammercoat plaster. The location of the house does not permit any long vistas; consequently, the focus is inwards, with immediate views of landscaped courtyards, pools and lush gardens and a wonderful interplay of levels. The garden itself is ‘under-designed’, with an emphasis on simplicity, while the boundary of the site has been heavily planted to obscure the neighbouring properties.

Yip professes himself to be ‘anti-design’ in the sense that he believes design should not be placed on a pedestal and that it should be accessible to all. This is the most recent of four houses in which he has attempted to ‘reinvent the kampong’. To do this, Yip looks to clues arising from the locality as well as regional influences. He seeks an ‘organic adhockedness’, yet the plan of the house has a disciplined grid. He looks for ‘richness without overdoing it’.

The house is designed for a typical extended Asian family, with the upper floor primarily occupied by the owner and his partner and the lower floor seen as the domain of his mother. There is also a room for the owner’s sister when she visits from the UK. Meals are taken communally on the lower floor.

In two decades in the profession, Yip has worked on a wide variety of projects, from individual dwellings to public housing. In discussing design, he speaks softly but with passion about the responsibilities of architects. There is a quiet rebelliousness in him, and it is perhaps no surprise that he worked for William Lim and Tay Kheng Soon, for who could not be infected by their zeal for reform in architecture and interest in cultural issues? He has also absorbed some of the social conscience that drew Liu Thai Ker to work in the relatively unglamorous sphere of public housing.

Yip’s particular target is what he terms ‘the culture of excess’ in Singapore. He speaks passionately against excessive size, excessive Gross Floor Area (GFA) and excessive use of materials. ‘Architects have a responsibility to build without being wasteful,’ he asserts. He is appalled at the amount of waste that our modern lifestyle generates. ‘To change things you have to start somewhere,’ he continues. The parallels with like-minded architects in Malaysia, such as Kevin Low, is apparent, as is the choice of a name for the ip:li architects, which employs only a lower-case font (Low practises under the title ‘small projects’). There is also a similar element of mid-career questioning of ‘What am I doing?’ and ‘Where are we going?’ Yip concludes, ‘I am tired of prettiness.’

The linear swimming pool serves as a cooling device when the breezes blow from the southwest.

The house has wide eaves, permeable walls and shaded verandahs.

Orientated towards the south, the living room enjoys effective cross-ventilation.

First storey plan.

In the absence of long-distance views, the focus of the house is inwards, towards the landscaped garden.

The architectural language of the carport contrasts sharply with the dwelling.

The house has the openness of a kampong house or a twentieth-century ‘Black-and-White’ house.

Second storey plan.

The entrance lobby.

The family room balcony overlooks the pool deck.