The house was inspired with the existing roofing of Manila cities made of “yero” (e.g. galvanized sheets) and a celebration of its rich cultural and eccentric tapestries of a Filipino home. The galvanized sheets are the predominant material use and we wanted to highlight the cultural identity of the place, its local context and the everyday but giving it a more performative aspect. The roof of this house looks like cut-out bands made of different gradience of metal sheens which actually canalizes water during rain and slows down water, becomes a waterfall for the coy pond, become a stand for sculpture and also acts as a chandelier at night. We created this water-collection and distribution system for the fern gardens to thrive and create this garden microclimates.

An owner being an avid music connoisseur and enthusiast – we created an open-plan and set back the pond in the ground floor to create a feeling that is somewhat an island – the coy pond enters the house to blur the indoor and outdoor boundary. As you enter the main door you are already invited to this bohemian rhapsody fantasy through this door handle inspired by a famous Fender guitar, a complex rhythmic composition of alcove ceiling lighting is predominant in the house that gives a feeling of musicality in three levels – a kind of interface of allegro movement and to create the separation of spaces but without the walls. The allegro inspired zig zag movements that goes inside and outside and like floating into space has this brisk, humor and lively qualities. The layering of different materials of teak wood, rose champagne metal and oak veneers create this symphony of floating lines and an amalgamation of energies, layering, framing and textures that creates this spatial scenery for family life beating its inner chords and corrugating the boundaries of indoor and outdoor, art and architecture, body and movement, space and time. A staircase is normally just a transitional space from A to B but here it is habitable, dynamic, engaging and the most energetic and healthy space. The house feels like an orchestrated series of spaces with areas of silence (adagio), expansion (accelerando), and tempo jolt surprises of these fluid lines blurring the boundaries of wall, floor and ceiling. We created a sensual ethos in its architecture merging body, nature, movement and musicality which uplifts the quality of life and happiness of the domestic life.