This Bukit Timah Good Class Bungalow had served its previous owners for three decades. The new owners — a multi-generational Singaporean family of seven — had bought it for the plot, the maturity of the trees, and the bones of the original house. They wanted the home renewed without losing what made it worth buying.
The brief
A family of seven across three generations: grandparents, parents, three children spanning ten years. The plot was extraordinary — over 17,000 square feet, mature, quiet, with significant trees that the family wanted to keep. The original 1970s house was tired but had handsome bones and a sympathetic relationship to its grounds.
The brief was specific. Keep the trees. Honour the grounds. Renew rather than replace the original house. Plan the interior so that three generations could live with privacy, joy, and proper accommodation for the years ahead.
The strategy
Renew, do not rebuild
The temptation on a GCB plot is always to rebuild. Newer is easier than restoring. We argued for renewal. The original structure was sound, the orientation was excellent, and the proportions of the principal rooms were generous in a way that newer construction would have to engineer back in. We retained the structure and gut-renovated the interior.
Three wings, one heart
The original plan was reorganised into three distinct wings around a central living and dining heart. Grandparents on a section of the ground floor with full step-free access, gardens and a small private terrace. Parents and youngest child on the upper level with a generous private suite. Older children in their own wing of the upper level with shared study and bathroom facilities.
Plan for the trees
Every principal room frames a tree. The dining room looks out onto a mature angsana. The grandparents’ sitting area looks onto the magnolia. The principal bedroom is oriented to the east-facing trees so that the morning light arrives filtered. The trees are the home’s silent fourth wall.
Materials
A restrained palette designed to age into the grounds. Honed travertine for principal floors. Whitewashed European oak for principal joinery. Brushed bronze hardware throughout. Linen drapery and upholstery in three quiet tones. The principal bathroom is finished in a pale, hand-finished tadelakt; the kitchen island is a single book-matched Calacatta slab — the home’s one piece of architectural marble drama.
Externally, the house was kept close to its original colour palette. The garden was renewed gently rather than redrawn.
What we are proudest of
Six months after handover, the matriarch told us that walking into the house still felt like walking into the home she had wanted her family to gather in. The grandfather, who had been initially sceptical of the renovation, walks the gardens in the evenings and tells visitors the trees were what made the project work.
A successful Good Class Bungalow project does not announce itself as design. It announces itself as home.
Project facts
- Location: Bukit Timah, Singapore
- Plot size: ~17,500 sq ft
- Built area: ~7,400 sq ft over two levels
- Project type: Full interior renovation, exterior restoration, garden renewal
- Timeline: 22 months from concept to handover (including approvals)
- Designed by: Designed Design Associates
Working with DDA
If you are planning a Good Class Bungalow renovation in Singapore and would like a designer who treats the plot’s history and trees as part of the brief, we would be glad to hear from you.