Raising a family in a home for 25 years induces the feeling of belonging and a relaxed state of mind. That’s why it was hard for the owners of this new multi-family home to tear down their bungalow where years have been transposed into memories. Replacing the original house with two semi detached houses meant evolving into this new life phase, one in which the family’s eldest son lives right next door and the youngest son occupies an apartment within the house.

Photographed by Derek Swalwell, this impressively designed 974 square feet home in Singapore was imagined by A D Lab (you might remember their stunning, innovative Andrew Road House). Elements of the old house were cleverly introduced into the new residential project “to facilitate the transference of experience and collective memory from the old to the new houses.” Hence, the double pitched roof shape and bright open spaces were re-imagined to fit the new family lifestyle.

Known as “2 Holland Grove”, the new home displays a central courtyard and water feature that create the sense of living in the garden. Architects explain how the floor-plan became a mirroring of the old house’s emotional attachment with the help of the pitched roof: ” With the new design, the architects retained the concept of the original roof form with one pitch at the front and one pitch along the side of the development. These pitches were then related to the entrance of the parent’s house at the front left side of the lot, and the side pitch defined the son’s house along the right side of the property.

The front pitch in the parent’s house encloses a two and a half storey living room. This lofty living space anchors the house and serves as central core that visually links all the levels of the house. The youngest son’s bedroom and suite is placed on the upper level of the parent’s house. In order to retain a sense of privacy, this zone is somewhat separated from the rest of the house, however the entrance area of the suite is vertically connected to the rest of the house through a balcony that overlooks the bright and airy living room below.”

With this creative example in mind, would you reconsider living with your parents?