Artifact House

Nuvali, Philippines, 2023

The main ethos of the house is simply based on the embedded family culture of the future inhabitants, who simply pursue this idea of being better, thru continuous learning, exploration, and growth.

Client \ Confidential

Location \ Confidential

Building Area \ 900 sq.m.

Program \ Residential

Status \ Construction

Better

Beyond

Pursuing ‘better’ means going beyond the status quo, beyond trends and prevalent thoughts. This means going beyond a singular definition of things, often accepting a pluralist attitude that sometimes require us to reprogram our mindset that even one thing can have multiple meanings, functions, and definitions.

Progressive Improvement

Pursuing ‘better’ is achieved not thru drastic change at a given moment, but thru incremental and progressive improvement over a prolonged period of time. This is fueled by optimism, curiosity, and an inquisitive spirit, that when combined leads to unexpected and unprecedented insights.

Timelessness

Pursuing ‘better’ can be attained when one is anchored in timeless things that stay true even as change comes, ideas such as adaptiveness, personal values and morals, and nature.

The combination of going beyond the status quo, progressive excellence, and timelessness give form to the functionality of the spaces and shell of this home, as well as the selection of materials and textures found throughout the house, embedded within them histories and provenance either from a historic past or an interesting process of craft.

Interiors

The house is envisioned to be an assemblage of objects from the past that carry with them provenance, history, and embedded stories; made new through an unconventional way of pairing them with contemporary materials, methods, and mantras.

Century-old wood from colonial homes meets sleek brass thresholds, while medieval cast iron knockers are paired with contemporary doorways. Handwoven Persian rugs coexist with digital surfaces that display ever-evolving digital art, to name a few examples.

Rather than the common practice of being clear and singular about the definition of things, this home embraces plurarity at various levels, depths, and scales – allowing new and unforseen surfaces and spaces to emerge that offer unexpected discovery and delight at every turn.