The Yeoh family of YTL Corporation owns one of Malaysia’s largest conglomerate company and dozens of upmarket properties in Kuala Lumpur and Singapore.
Now it is more personal, with the completion of the family's sleek-looking 4-storey The Yeoh Residence nestled atop Bangsar in Kuala Lumpur, it may inspire your imagination of being super-rich one day.
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[The following photos and wording are by The Cool Hunter.]
In 2003, Paris-based Agence Jouin Manku was invited to take on its first large-scale integrated architectural design commission for the Malaysian family.
Three generations of the Yeoh family inhabit the 3,000 square-meter mansion residence designed to accommodate both private and public functions.
The spaceship-shaped building includes 9 bedrooms, 2 family rooms, 1 family kitchen and a private dining area, 1 family library, 1 game room, 1 study, 1 public reception area, 1 formal dining room, 1 ballroom, 1 chapel, 21 bathrooms, 1 swimming pool, 2 guest suites plus indoor private and guest parking.
The initial sketches exploring the owners’ usage requirements reveal resemblances to the boring stacked-boxes look still so ubiquitous in residential architecture. And while traces of the “heaped trailers” syndrome remained in the finished building, this is not the Jetsons, neither are we looking at EPCOT, Tomorrowland or the 1964 New York World's Fair.
We are in the lush vegetation of a posh Kuala Lumpur residential area, and inspite of the boxiness of the structure, an elegant circular softness manages to permeate the sightlines and key details of the building, making it an agreeable part of its landscape.
Inside, prominent examples of this curvilinear elegance, including the amazing staircases resembling the inside of a shell when viewed from above, and the round ballroom chandelier of a 13,000 customly-designed undulating petals of unglazed cast porcelain biscuits.
The curved walls both inside and outside have a functional purpose of providing privacy and enclosing each function gently in its own space. The overall sweeping feel inside the spaces invites the viewer in and creates soft, arching vistas.
The concept consists of three layers: the base for public functions, the ring for guests and the private house for the family.
"Their fridge for instance is a Liebherr which is like super-expensive. A check at Harvey Norman suggested a retail price of RM21,000 for the same model that the house had. And they have 2 of the fridge."
The residence is a wonderful study of contrasts between inside and outside, private and public, traditional and ultra modern, man-made and natural.
There is also an in-house chapel for the spiritual activities.
The view from the library
This wild architecture and diversity is the backdrop for a futuristic yet traditional house that is as eclectic as KL itself.
YTL Design Group of Kuala Lumpur was the architect of record. The Agence Jouin Manku design team included Patrick Jouin, Sanjit Manku, Yann Brossier (architect), Richard Perron (designer). Officina del Paesaggio from Lugano, Switzerland was in charge of the landscape design, and L’Observatoire, New York, USA handled the lighting.
The YTL Group has total assets of USD10.5 billion with interests in:
(a) largest construction contractor company in Malaysia;
(b) power and water utilities (Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, UK, Australia);
(c) cement producing (Malaysia, Singapore, China);
(d) property development (Sentul East and Pantai Hillpark in KL);
Photo taken while in construction in 2008
(e) REIT management (Wisma Atria and Ngee Ann City in Singapore, seven properties in Tokyo);
(f) infrastructure (ERL high speed rail in KL, Eastern Oriental rail service from Singapore to Bangkok);
(g) hospitality (Pangkor Laut, Tanjong Jara, JW Marriott, Starhill, Bintang Walk and Ritz-Carlton KL, Chedi Resort Phuket); and
(h) information technology and e-commerce.
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