A pair of perpendicular gabled structures with contrasting concrete and white-painted surfaces face onto a rear garden and pond at this house in the Malaysian city of Petaling Jaya by local architect Fabian Tan.

Tan's Kuala Lumpur-based studio designed the semi-detached Kninko House for a young family on a plot in the former satellite city of Malaysia's capital.
The building comprises distinct but connected volumes containing different functional zones, with a varied material palette helping to distinguish the spaces from each other.

The main living areas are accommodated in a single-storey volume positioned perpendicular to a two-storey block containing the bedrooms, a study, bathrooms and utility rooms.
The entrance from the street is formed by a concrete driveway leading to a car port sheltered beneath a white-painted canopy.
A staircase and a ramp that extends along two sides of this structure connect with an entrance sheltered beneath the overhang of the upper storey.
Stone perimeter walls continue around the edges of the car port and pathways to create a smooth transition from the street to the house, which sits on an elevated area to the rear of the plot.

The view of the building from the front and rear is dominated by the gabled volume of the upper level, which cantilevers out at either end to accentuate its separation from the ground floor.
The concrete blockwork cladding also creates a visual contrast to the white-painted walls of the level below, which contin...