Master suite in the tropics by GSD Architecture opens to the outdoors

When architects set out to create a private retreat, there is always one part of the house where the idea really comes into its own, and that's the master suite.

In designing a home for his own family, architect Leong Yew Kooi of GSD Architect has ensured the master suite also epitomizes all his ideas about passive design and sustainability.

Leong says that in designing the house he took his cue from nature and tradition.

"The landscaping around the house is like a forest cocoon," he says. "It mimics the wild profusion of a tropical forest, with shrubs, trees and creepers. Much like a traditional Malaysian kampong house, this helps to lower the ambient temperature through evaporation and transpiration, which provides a passive cooling system for the house through cross ventilation."

Lush tropical planting is an integral part of the suite on the top level of the three-story house much of the planting is in an area that forms an open courtyard terrace right in the middle of the suite. Here, Leong has positioned a luxurious Jacuzzi that is open to the elements. Slatted wood screens at the side and overhead provide shade, privacy and support for vines.

The terrace with the Jacuzzi effectively separates the bedroom and the bathroom, while creating a linking device, thanks to extra-large sliding glass doors. The master bedroom can be opened right up to the outdoors on three sides. Similarly the shower is behind a large glass door that can be opened up to the Jacuzzi terrace to reinforce the sense of bathing outdoors.

"The glass doors allow light to penetrate right into the space," says Leong. "And the visual clarity creates an interplay between interior and exterior it brings the forest garden into the bedroom. The rooms are transformed into open terraces when the doors are opened, blurring the line between inside and out."

Story by: Colleen Hawkes