Secreted in an old Kuala Lumpur cul-de-sac, Molek House stands apart as a modern abode in a swathe of 20^th-century homes. Reductive minimalist, tropical-brutalist, or palatially extravagant, the house isn’t. What it is, as interpreted by Studio Bikin Architects, is a highly domestic construct that contrives an architecture dedicated to practical living and lived-in comfort.  

COMMUNAL SPACE

The house replaces an original family dwelling, its molek moniker an alliteration of its philosophy and (un)coincidentally the name of its street. “They didn’t want a big house as they knew they needed to maintain it long term. That was clear from the very beginning,” says Studio Bikin director Adela Askandar.

“What they did want was a big open kitchen, a master bedroom on the ground floor, their two daughters’ bedrooms upstairs, and a study. That was it.”

This partiality avails itself the moment the entrance door opens. Breaking with convention, there is no living room in the immediacy, no armchairs and sofas to offer plush comfort. The architects have construed a deformalized space: the welcoming act is a huge marble kitchen island – merged to a likewise bespoke dining section – spanning the entirety of the house’s middle section.

“The client enjoys her baking. She entertains mostly her girls’ friends, visiting family. So this was designed to fulfil that request. Beyond that, they’re not much into entertaining in the traditional sense,” says Adela. 

The ubiquitous dining room chandelier is discarded for a more eloquent sculpted skylight. The drawn daylight via its linear incision lends a natural glow to the kitchen as the day progresses, illuminating and demarcating the primary space family and guests gravitate towards.

PRACTICAL PRAGMATISM

While the kitchen-dining ensemble claims a sizeable footprint, Studio Bikin was methodical in keeping the house to an optimised 3,200 square feet, a diminutive figure by Malaysian bungalow standards. 

Behind a seamless backdrop of well-crafted built-ins reside back-of-house functions – yard, laundry, storage, maid’s room – and a powder room complete with custom-cast concrete tiles. The master bedroom and its ensuite bathroom, off the main entrance, are similarly pragmatic, configured for later-year ease of access and use. Where a floating steel-and-timber staircase occupies its double-height corner of the house, a study-cum-working area is formed underneath. “They didn’t have the temptation to exceed their brief, and held back in adding things in that respect,” reveals Adela.

The proximity of neighbouring homes, according to the architect, also dictated consideration in planning. “Even with six-metre setbacks, the (houses’) façades are actually quite close to one another – you have very little privacy. And because of the narrow street frontage, there was insufficient space to have a generous front garden. The direction we took was to tighten the front, and open up the back and sides where privacy was optimal.”

The strategy yielded a sizeable tract of garden, populated with lush planting and cultivated herbs, that connects to the communal space via a lavish patio. The site, in fact, became the wedding venue of the clients’ eldest daughter who now lives in the house with her husband and two cats.  

SALVAGED REMEMBRANCE

The narrative of Molek House isn’t short of pathos. Adela recollects, “The client was quite precious about the original 80s house her father had built. It was heavy-set, slightly stodgy, with some interesting (security) grilles all around. So we thought, okay, let’s try and salvage whatever we can as a memory of the old house.”

Both new and harvested bricks, split then mixed, impart nostalgic familiarity albeit in granular rubble bond laid over a single storey. Reinterpreting that stodginess of yesteryear, the walls’ red hues complete a coloured trifecta of deep green planting and grey precast pavers.

Up above, the old steel grilles have taken on a new lease on life as trellises. “From project outset, we knew we were going to use the grilles on the front façade, and have creepers going up. When you conceptualise the project in that manner, it’s just a matter of the details following through,” shares Adela, their studio also in charge of landscape design

The interweaving creepers and trellises have as much impact on the inside of the house as they do externally. “On top of privacy from the neighbours, we also wanted the occupants to open the bathroom door to this veil of green without feeling too exposed.” 

COMPACT LIVING 

The first floor is remarkably shrewd – two bedrooms and a single roof garden – though the garden could be converted in future. By preserving the constraints of what’s needed, without overt over-extension of desire and budget, the house maintains a taut balance between its architectural proposition and user-defined space-making.

“I think they wanted this kind of compact way of living,” Adela surmises. “That made them great clients to work with as it was more about crafting the living experience, the building envelope, and detailing those well. So to come out with something well-built, for discerning clients, is very rewarding.”