While it is easy to understand that in Singapore Context, most owner would like to build as much square feet as possible because of the high land cost, but there is this myth about obsession of number of rooms and baths that I find hard to comprehend.
It is very common that the first question that a client ask is ‘How much area I can build’. But I noticed there are many clients tend to ask what the maximum number rooms that they can build ? I always asked them back ‘how many room you ‘need’?
Very often, the client will tell you they need only X number of rooms, but they will like to have more rooms so the house is more ‘saleable’ in future. I wonder is there real value in property market sense on the numbers of rooms & baths or simply it is a ‘make believe ‘ phenomenon ( similar to those phenomenon where everyone tend to rush to a long queue believing there must be something valuable that drawn crowds )…
I think there is this fundamental ‘gap’ between architects and some house owner in opinion towards value and concept of ‘space and room’. The room is basically space that defined by walls. While many fancy ‘room’ , most architect has this urge to remove walls, in order to achieve space we deems as ‘extendable, flexible and even boundless’. Architect always put great effort to make building element ‘disappears’, or at least seemed disappears. The best detailing We ( or I) believed is always those so well integrated, so well concealed that you never aware their presence. One of the many beauty we ( or I ) worship is the beauty of ‘Absence’.
The discussion with the client will often need to go beyond the discussion on ‘walls’, often it even involve rethinking of individual’s values and outlook on life . It is not easy to convince someone to believe in why they need to spend millions to make thing ‘disappears ‘. lets be frank , Instead very few actually agree the concept of ‘Less is more’.
In practical sense, I will always advise the client to build on the numbers of rooms that they ‘need’, but with the flexible space / provision that is convertible for future. For it is really doesn’t make much sense where you can have nice spacious communal space, but you choose to compromise that with few additional rooms which you will not need in near future or even just exist for your future buyer...
In city state like Singapore. Family are getting smaller and smaller, 80-90% of the kids will eventually leaving and form their own family. We see too often, almost all 2nd hand house owner will go through their own renovation to tailor the space to suit their own life style & need, where most of them involve tearing down walls for more quality spaces. So this ‘buyer like more rooms and instead buyer bought over the house to tear down ‘circle is really super duper excessive and unsustainable.
