DESIGNERS FACE THE CHALLENGE OF ASSIMILATING UNIQUE ELEMENTS AS HOMEOWNERS GROW MORE DESIGN-CONSCIOUS Formerly known as La Mansion, Hills Apartment is located in the highly sought-after Bukit Timah area. Extensively retrofitted, the original six-storey building has been transformed into a thoroughly modern apartment block with ten luxurious units. This boutique ensemble is characterised by the introduction of horizontal and vertical cantilevers to provide additional floor area for each apartment, and the use of thin aluminium louvres to improve sun-shading and maintain privacy.
ledges provide visual continuity and legibility to the development’s façade. The addition of vertical and horizontal fins to all floors eventually distinguishes Hills Apartment, becoming the prime articulating element of the façade.
Only two units per floor share a common lift lobby. Designed for extended families, each apartment is about 300sqm in area and includes four bedrooms with en-suite bathrooms. The use of full-height glazing with glass spandrels ensures bright and cheerful interiors. The apartments are located from the second storey upwards, which enable a generous main entrance and foyer to be carved out at ground level.
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To further enhance the rhythm created by planter boxes and random fenestrations, vertical reinforced concrete fins joining horizontal
Above: Typical storey plan – only two units per floor share a common lift lobby. Left: Hills Apartment is characterised by the use of horizontal and vertical cantilevers, and aluminium louvres.
DP 27