Love at First Site!
With only 550m2 to work with and a very narrow awkward plot, architect Walter Wagner built an unusual and unique home on a small craggy hill face on the Bukit.
Walter decided to build his home in Bali simply because he believed that “You should live where you play and feel at home”. This was back in 2001 before the current boom had sent land prices of similar sized plot prices souring by up to 50% higher.
The Bukit had always been a favorite area for Walter and he found charm in its vastness, its vistas across to Java and Lembongan. Its accessibility and characteristics were also top of his list. Whilst looking for suitable plots around the Bukit with a friend, he says the plot finally found us and it was instant love.
The Design Keen on the Bauhaus style of architecture and minimalist living, over the next couple of months Walter set out to design his dream home. However, it took more than one attempt, as he had first envisioned a curved facade and a freestanding cubicle… but somehow this did not feel right.
One Sunday afternoon, he was caught daydreaming and there in an instant was the idea, perfectly formed in his mind. He sketched his thoughts down on paper straight away, and in less than a minute, there it was. When asked about his influences he says smiling, “I have them in me.” Fourteen months later the house was finished.
Challenges With a rocky cliff wall to the rear and a sheer 15 foot drop to the front and side, measuring 16 meters at the widest point, the plot was very tricky to work with. The main challenge was how to arrange the layout on such a narrow block of land whilst incorporating the natural features like the exposed rock formation.
This was integrated with the use of reflections and mirror images, by producing a mirror image of the rock face onto the opposite wall. An overall illusion of being in a high walled cave has been created and this has visually doubled the impact of the narrow stair space, thus making the most of a very strong feature, which has also become an important part of the overall design.
The House On approach, it is unassuming, and whilst climbing the steps to the entrance nothing prepares you for the most imaginative use of limited space. At the top of the cave-like ascending hallway, turn right and you enter the large living area, which encompasses, the kitchen, dining area, pool side and decking area. The spaces all melt into one fluid living/ entertaining space; there is even room for a baby grand piano. You feel that you are hovering on the edge of the world floating above everything below; the infinity pool further enhances this feeling.
From bottom to top the house is laid out as follows: Open plan living room, dining area and kitchen. Outdoors a large decked seating area runs to the edge of the pool. Across from the main building there is an unusual oval two storey structure where in the lower level there are two cabin beds for younger guests, the incorporation of computer desks and storage underneath highlight the ingenious use of such a tiny space. Interconnected behind this there is a large open air bathroom and shower.
Upstairs, the master bedroom truly is the master; it is the same size as the complete downstairs living area with a colossal black terrazzo bath as its centerpiece. Wall to wall frosted glass doors enclose the wardrobes and en suite shower room. From the bed, there are uninterrupted views and endless blue sky. Walter describes the feeling in this room as “Living in the clouds. Living from the inside out.”
New Ideas Some new things he tried were the bamboo bridge, which leads to the guest bedroom, the traversing of which is not recommended in the dark or after several glasses of wine.
The oval building housing the guest bedroom and children’s bunk beds sits on the narrowest part of the site, ”that location required a special dynamic, the high set bunk beds were view driven and it allowed additional space below close to the pool edge”.
Walter’s love of minimalism is also evident throughout his home, “These days we are so overloaded with stimulants, of things we don’t need in life. My house needs to be a refuge.”
The openness of the house is one of Walter’s favourite things about it, he loves this personal space he has created and adds “I love the early morning hours, the late afternoons and the transition into the night… with the city lights in the distance… with the volcanoes as a backdrop”!
Walter Wagner Bio
Leaving his Native Germany and his architectural practice in Europe, Walter first came to Bali in 1984 on a surfing holiday, fell in love with the island and its people and finally ended up living in Bali. When designing with clients Walter stresses that the land definitely determines what can and cannot be done e.g. Ubud is typically hilly, with steep slopes down to a river, which instantly tells you what can be done, it handles a more traditional solution. In the Bukit, you can go more modern as the landscape can handle it.
He adds that tropical living is about utilising designs which work with and without air conditioning, by allowing for air movement and cross breezes. The visual look of a house is important but so is its functionality. ■
