A graduate of the University of Architecture and Planning at Cordoba in Argentina, Ernesto Bedmar arrived in Singapore in 1984 via Hong Kong, where he worked in the office of his compatriot Miguel Angel Roca. Three years after his arrival and following a period of employment with SAA Architects and freelance work with Kerry Hill Architects, Bedmar and interior designer Patti Shi founded Bedmar and Shi Designers. Since then, he has been at the forefront of residential design in Southeast Asia and has acquired a reputation for architecture of understated elegance and sophistication. His tranquil dwellings and interiors are widely published. Bedmar has always exhibited a remarkable ability to subtly condense memories within a dwelling. One of his earliest designs was the seminal Eu House (1993), which is often credited with changing the direction of residential design in the city-state of Singapore. Upon entering the Lakeshore House, there is an immediate sense of calm that precedes a dramatic journey through a myriad of carefully orchestrated spaces, culminating in what is debatably the most stunning coastal view in Singapore, east over the Straits of Singapore and the merchant ships lying at anchor in the Eastern Anchorage. Bedmar has opted for a contemporary vernacular form. He employs a familiar palette of materials and elements, including stone, timber columns, pergolas, projecting windows, louvres and cedar shingles on the pitched roofs. 1
As with his design for the Sadeesh House in Kuala Lumpur, the joy of this house lies in its vertical and horizontal movement through space, the numerous ‘surprises’ along the route, the unexpected niches and places for quiet contemplation, the gushing fountains and placid dark ponds, the strategically placed vantage points, the unanticipated breezes, the interplay of roof forms, the penetration of light through a pergola, the sensuous ripple of waves on the pool, and ultimately, the kaleidoscopic effect of all these events. This is Bedmar’s forte: architecture for the senses. The house clings to the hillside. Essentially, all the major rooms look east towards the sea. Directly ahead, on entering the house from the entrance drive, is a spacious lobby that gives access to an anteroom preceding the master bedroom suite, with a covered verandah cantilevering over the lower floors. Turning sharply right, a sheltered walkway alongside a linear koi pond leads to two guest bedrooms.
Left The master bedroom suite projects over the lap pool, supported on tall, circular columns.
Above A water spout cascades into the swimming pool.
The backdrop to the pond is a substantial wall of uncoursed masonry, dramatically lit by sunlight filtered through a pergola. Above the guest bedrooms, at the very pinnacle of the house, is the owner’s study, a veritable ‘crow’s nest’, with a panoramic view of the horizon and a glimpse to the north through a horizontal slit window of protected forest. Ahead and to the left of the entrance lobby, a flight of stairs descends along the northern flank of the house to the principal living areas that are assembled around three sides of a glittering swimming pool. The house is designed for an active client, but in anticipation of a time when the stairs become problematic, they are equipped with ‘stair lifts’. A spacious living area with an east-facing terrace forms the bulk of the accommodation at this level, but at the rear of the house, set hard against the hillside, is the formal dining room with framed views over the infinity pool. The kitchen is tucked away to the side of the dining room. The composition is completed by the addition of a gazebo or sala on the southern flank. One level lower, and accessed by a further flight of stairs along the north flank, is an exercise and meditation room and a third guest bedroom with access via a timber deck to the lower garden adjoining a golf course. Beyond is the ocean. Viewed from below, the house, with its cantilevered master bedroom, supported by two tall, circular columns,
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