While her husband was initially more excited about building a house from scratch, the wife is proud of the result. More importantly, the home meets her family’s needs. With one child now in boarding school, she wanted the house to remain a place her children would return to as they grow older or study overseas. She also liked that the bedrooms are on the same floor, allowing the parents to keep an eye on them. “We can also watch them while cooking or when we
are in the study room,” she said. Asked how the children have taken to the new home, the wife said: “They love it. My son and daughter swim often with their friends.” While she does not cook often, the generous dry kitchen counter facing the courtyard becomes, during gatherings, a station with a view for a hired private chef. On one occasion, she said, an Italian chef who had trained as an architect remarked that the house was well designed. It is not only human
guests who have made themselves at home here. With greenery woven throughout the house, the husband said, birds have begun nesting on the property, a Finlayson’s squirrel has become a resident visitor and a bat comes by at night to sip water from the pool. “We don’t mind at all, as bats are very auspicious in Chinese culture,” he said. For Arango, this is “tropical living to the max”.
home design, family needs, courtyard kitchen, boarding school, bedrooms on same floor, private chef, birds nesting, Finlayson’s squirrel, bats pool