With each project we undertake, our definition of sustainability is further developed based on the unique environmental, cultural, economic and human qualities of the site.  The Bishopsgate house offered a profound opportunity for introspection about building a family home on a heritage site in land scarce Singapore and to understand the role of an Architect as a steward of the landscape.

I was first directed to Bishopsgate when it was a residential compound for the senior officers of HSBC.  For half a century, this site was occupied by stately bungalows set in a rich verdant landscape of Tembusu and Delonix,  giant shade trees that kept the entire area cool and fragrant. The idea of building on the gentle slopes of this old ground which had scarcely been built upon before was intoxicating.

The estate was set on 7000sq m of rolling hills, a fraction of the original swathe that included Jervois Hill and the embassies of both Indonesia and Brunei  which once belonged to HSBC.  In 2004 it was sold and subdivided into 16 Good Class Bungalows.  I surveyed the development and selected the long narrow site facing directly onto Bishopsgate Road.

The steeply sloping site had 1628 square meters of untended garden—74 meters long and 22 meters wide, with the slope rising 11 meters from the lowest point.  The proportions would allow for privacy and impressive vistas of the garden and the greenery beyond the site, both of which were priorities for the client.

It was the quality of the undulating topography, the dappled shade of the giant trees and the rich history of the site that inspired three dominant priciples of sustainable design for Bishopsgate project. To protect the heritage of the neighborhood as a shaded hillside dominated by giant trees, to minimize cutting and filling of the earth by building along existing contours and to protect existing trees and facilitate natural propagation of native trees to minimize growth of non-native species.