A 1950s house in Singapore is reborn as a contemporary home open to the elements

Singaporean architect Chang Yong Ter and his client go back to their army days in the late 1980s, when both attended officer cadet school. They lost touch afterwards, reconnecting only decades later when Chang’s work appeared in a magazine, and his old friend recognised the name. By then, the client had already set his sights on a plot: a corner site in Bukit Timah, one of the island’s toniest neighbourhoods. “I thought the plot had potential,” the client says. “It was squarish and elevated with...