Over the hills and not so very far away in Janda Baik, MJ Kanny Architect built a pair of dramatic houses designed specifically to work with, rather than against, the challenging terrain
Much like the Hamptons to well-heeled Manhattanites or Berkshire to affluent Londoners Janda Baik has become something of a weekend getaway to KL-ites; after all, in just half an hour, one can swap the city’s traffic congestion and pollution for clear mountain air and uninterrupted verdant views. The sleepy town has seen the mushrooming of weekend homes of various architectural ambitions, many which gratifyingly work with the terrain rather than against it.
See also: This Award-Winning Janda Baik Retreat Converses Eloquently With Nature
Two such homes were built by Melvyn Kanny of MJ Kanny Architect who got to know a middle-aged couple who had two plots of land (each measuring one acre) that they purchased in Janda Baik. They had been recommended by the late David Winter, an interior designer whom Kanny had worked with before and requested for him to propose two houses, one intended as their holiday cum retirement home while the other was for either investment or for their children’s use. One of the houses was submitted for Pertubuhan Arkitek Malaysia's (PAM) competition and took home PAM’s Gold Award in the Single Residential Category in 2018.