Wooi Residence
Architecture ASIA Issue 4 / December 2004 - February 2005 Idea House by Ar. Lee Chor Wah
The architectural feast the house offers seems never ending as one's eyes move from one interesting details to another. Many, if not all of the architectural components are custom-made. For example, the doors are made of strips of 2 x1" timber put together for different effects; some of the windows are frameless and set into the brick walls or timber frames, some are with conventional aluminium frames but with unconventional divisions and edge details; some of them are just plain sheets of glass supported on the outside away from the wall - a modern interpretation of Sigurd Lewerentz's window details. The built-in joinery items are appropriately made of either 2"x1" timber slats or bare Medium Density Fibre (MDF) boards. Their rawness complements the ruggedness of the unpainted fair-faced brick walls and off-form concrete ceilings. None of the interior walls and ceiling surfaces are painted or given any decorative finishes except for the bathroom walls where they are lined with wall tiles.
One can see many influences in this house; the work of Australian Sydney School 'nut and berry style' architects such as Ken Woolley; Jimmy Lim; Sigurd Lewerentz; Peter Zumthor; and even Richard Leplastrier's penchant for timber details. And one certainly cannot help but be reminded of Zumthor's Saint Benedicts Chapel where the tear drop or leaf shaped roof and its detailing share certain resemblance to the Wooi Residence. While Zumthor's is a single-volumn chapel, here the tear drop contains Wooi's office at the basement, formal dinning on the ground, and the master bedroom on the first, The space is most dramatic in the master bedroom where the clerestory window lights up the intricately laid leaf-like timber ceiling. The brick work is reminiscent of Sigurd Lewerentz. They are common bricks laid in three different bonds: monk on the ground floor, joints are exceptionally wide to accommodate the dimensional differences hence the association with Lewerentz. Lewerentz was known to revere the wholeness of the brick so much so that he would not cut the brick at all! And the same bricks are used on the floor, walls, as well as the ceilings. However, the difference in this house is that bricks are cut to suit and they are only being used as load-bearing walls.
Upon graduation from the University of New South Wales, Wooi spent six of his formative years with Jimmy Lim at CSL Associates. Since leaving Jimmy Lim to set up Wooi Architect, he has completed a number of exquisite houses where traces of Jimmy's influence are very discernable. Wooi's repeated use of the Central conical shaped roofs gives the strongest clue to his root. However, the Wooi Residence marks the strongest departure yet from the master architecture's shadow. While Jimmy's, as well as Wooi's earlier roofs are all tiled, this house is roofed with zinc titanium, a favourite roofing material of many contemporary architects such as Zumthor, Frank Gehry, etc.
Once in a while, a gem of a building emerges from a sea of mediocrity. Without a doubt, this house is such a gem and is destined to become Wooi's seminal work which should mark the turning point of his career as well as in the history of Malaysian architecture.
