A sewer line running through a plot is not the most promising starting point for a family home. But for ArMo Design Studio, the constraint became the organising idea behind a tropical house in western Singapore.Maria Arango, co-founder of the Singapore-based architecture firm, explained that nothing permanent could be built over the sewer line because it had to remain accessible for maintenance. Covering it with access panels was possible, she said, but it would have required significant investment for a solution that would barely be seen. Instead, the architects turned the restricted strip into a courtyard with a garden and swimming pool.Arango founded ArMo Design Studio in 2021 with her husband, Diego Molina, and architect Goh Chong Chia. Before that, the couple from Colombia spent two decades at Ong & Ong, where they designed more than 100 houses and received more than 100 awards. That experience is evident in this house, built for an Australian husband, his Singaporean wife and their two teenage children.
In the dining area, a Tisoffio pendant by Viabizzuno hangs above a custom dining table made in Malaysia by Fiske. (Photo: Studio Periphery)
In the dry kitchen, veneer cabinetry is accented with copper-finished steel, while the island countertop is a slab of Taj Mahal marble. (Photo: Studio Periphery)
