This Secret Garden House in Singapore is full of elegant surprises

This home in Singapore is surely the envy of the neighborhood, with a protected garden and reflecting pool situated just so on a deeply pitched plot of land.

Singaporean firm Wallflower Architecture + Design created the Secret Garden House with a mixture of textures and shapes spanning multiple elevations - and they included some clever design features that protect the homeowner’s privacy without skimping on elegance, space, or generous floods of bright daylight.

Wallflower’s client commissioned the home design for the upscale area of Bukit Timah in central Singapore. Rising to the request for a “luxurious, tropical, contemporary family home,” the design team produced a unique, airy space with a mostly open floor plan and multiple decks and terraces to take advantage of the region’s temperate climate. The home has a sunken basement and a long swimming pool, which work together to open up the ground-level areas of the house on the sloped lot.

The home’s predominant shapes are rectangular, with an L-shaped footprint comprised of smaller boxes. Interspersed throughout the structure, though, are expansive round skylights that invite wide bright spotlights to dance around the home’s interior, adding curves to what is otherwise a very angular space. The home also features a protected interior atrium, where two-story trees grow in front of a dense privacy wall, offering the homeowners a uniquely cozy living space without sacrificing daylight or views of nature.

Perhaps one of the best features about the home itself is the rooftop terrace, which stretches the length of the building’s elegant L shape. With a clear glass perimeter protecting from missteps, the deck features multiple lounging areas and plenty of greenery, a nod to the home’s lush surroundings. Just off in the distance, high-rises obscure the mountainous view, but the Secret Garden House offers plenty of other delicious sights, without the eyestrain.