Time and cost involving multiple trades on a single wall were effectively eliminated. • A reduced construction timeframe was attractive to our clients. • Being the first 3D-printed house in Singapore, we wanted to take advantage of this rare opportunity as a testbed to understand how the 3D-printing technology can be optimised for wider use in our region within the low-rise residential typology. With these benefits offered to all parties involved, 3D-printing seemed a win-win situation. We wanted to challenge the perception of ‘high’-tech equating to cookie-cutter/modular architecture that responds purely to efficiency.

Nor does it mean speculative architecture that feels experimental. We set out exploring whether a 3D-printed house could:- • be applicable for mainstream, architecturally driven projects within urban context. • Achieve high-quality emotive spaces. • Though a novel technology with a unique aesthetic, we can still create a home that can remain relevant and respected in decades to come. The oculus, topping the double volume cone that rises above the dining room takes centre stage in the defining the spatial quality of the house.

Sunlight filters in from the Oculus, tracking time and creating a strong physiological connection between our clients and their environment. This element was informed by the previous house on the site, in which our clients lived for many years. The previous house was built in a Neoclassical style popular in Southeast Asia in the 90s, a style with a strong sense of geometric forms and formalistic spatial arrangement. The grandeur and geometric of the entrance experience created by the Oculus were thus an homage to the old house.

In addition to being a signifier of our client’s collective memories, the oculus regulates the microclimate of the house, imperative in tropical Singapore. A passive turbo extractor fan at the roof extracts hot air that rises to the top of the cone through vents that surround the base of the oculus. The main staircase adjacent to the oculus is passively cooled by waste cool air generated by the heat-pump water heater. QR3D was an experiment on a technology that could answer some of the constraints construction industry faces.

True to any experiment, we learned many lessons to carry to the next 3D-printed project. Working with the available printing technology and process, we want to further develop an architectural language and expression that is enhanced by the inherent quality of 3D printed surfaces.