Through openness without barriers and the seamless blending of spatial boundaries, Gohte Architects’ DS House demonstrates how a residential extension can create a personal resort-like ecosystem within the warmth of family life.

Expanding a home often leaves both homeowners and architects at a difficult crossroads. How can new land be added without making the existing building feel foreign or disconnected? This fundamental question became the starting point for Gohte Architects in designing DS House, an extension project that brings together an existing house and a new plot of land that previously contained an unused building, which was demolished.

Behind its new structure, DS House presents a spatial transformation that goes beyond simply adding square meters. It demonstrates how a large-scale renovation can unfold harmoniously when architecture is designed to flow with the family’s patterns of living and the relationships between its members.

Reading Patterns of Life and Translating the Essence of a Resort

The design process for DS House began with a relatively abstract brief from the homeowners: to create the atmosphere of a resort while establishing a spatial arrangement in which different areas could interact without any hidden spots. Rather than responding to this request literally through surface-level decoration, Gohte Architects chose to look deeper by observing the family’s daily habits and lifestyle.

Through this observation, the architects identified the closeness between the parents and their children as the heart of the home. The concept of no hidden spot was then translated into a transparent spatial layout. All bedrooms were designed to face directly toward the main courtyard and swimming pool.

This architectural approach allows the parents to monitor the children’s activities from different points throughout the house, while also bringing natural light, fresh air, and visual connectivity into every corner.

Meanwhile, the essence of a resort is expressed through a subtle blurring of the boundaries between interior and exterior. The relaxed atmosphere is not limited to public areas such as the family room, but extends into the private spaces of the bedrooms.

Greenery, trees, the sound of flowing water, and open-air circulation are woven together into a single ecosystem that brings the feeling of a holiday into everyday life.

Blurring the Boundaries: Structural Efficiency and Visual Transitions

One of the biggest technical challenges in connecting the old house with the new plot was bridging differences in floor levels while working within the limitations of the existing structure. Gohte Architects adopted a cost-efficient, minimal-intervention strategy by treating the new building mass as a complement to the existing one, allowing extensive demolition of the old structure to be kept to a minimum.

To maintain a clear circulation flow, the main functions were distributed strategically. Spaces such as the family room were not duplicated, avoiding redundancy, while the new plot was primarily used to accommodate additional bedrooms. Carefully targeted demolition was carried out in the old house, limited to two main structural walls that formed the connection between the two building masses.

At every point where the old and new structures meet, transitional elements in the form of frames or gateways were introduced so that movement between spaces would feel natural and seamless. Visually, this sense of unity was further strengthened by updating the finishes of the existing building to align with the material palette of the new house, creating a cohesive facade without making the intervention feel excessive.

On-Site Adaptation and the Synergy of Trust

Bringing DS House to life was a four-year journey. The extended construction period was accompanied by a continuous flow of new ideas, creativity, and inspiration from the clients, particularly after returning from their holidays. Changes and material adjustments occurred almost every two months, requiring a high level of adaptability and an extra commitment from the architectural team.

The team’s responsiveness and technical precision were put to the test during several crucial moments on site. One occurred just a week before the concrete was scheduled to be poured, when the clients realized their preference for a different physical scale and requested additional depth at the swimming pool level.

On another occasion, when the finishing stage was already underway, the decision was made to add a rooftop. Faced with the additional structural load, the architects worked closely with the structural consultant to recalculate the load capacity and safely implement a light structure without compromising the design’s aesthetics.

To ensure that these dynamic changes did not stray from the original concept, all information and revision records were centralized through a single source of truth managed jointly with the main contractor. The key to keeping the process running smoothly lay in compatibility, mutual trust, and open communication between the clients and architects. The freedom given by the homeowners allowed every on-site challenge to become an enjoyable discussion, ultimately giving rise to a highly personal home.

In the end, DS House stands as more than a physical extension. It is a manifestation of fragments of a family’s dreams and journey. Through Gohte Architects’ sensitivity in weaving old and new spaces together, listening to the occupants’ needs, and navigating the dynamics of the site over several years, the house has evolved into a private oasis that is transparent, warm, and alive with the timeless harmony of a resort.

Project Details

Architect: Gohte Architects
Photography: Mario Wibowo Photography