This Golden Valley house, designed by Spine Architects’ U Zaw Moe Shwe, is designed to resemble the movement of automobiles through the use of hard lines and aluminium cladding, with its smooth surface.

AS the car I’m travelling in trundles slowly along the winding potholed streets of Golden Valley, an exclusive residential quarter of Kamaryut township, I can’t help but notice all the overbearing whitewashed mansions, with their three-storey columns and teak fittings.

But my attention is immediately caught by a remarkable object in one of the compounds up ahead. Bright orange and made of aluminium, it has sharp edges and zigzag lines.

“But what is it?” I wonder, pressing my face against the glass of the car. As we draw nearer, the shape became clearer: I quickly realise it’s an eye-catching contemporary house designed by Spine Architects.

When I speak to the man behind the ambitious project – Spine Architects owner U Zaw Moe Shwe – he tells me the house is designed to resemble the sleek movement of an automobile and is based on his own love of modern cars.

The design utilises bright metallic cladding and is stylised to imitate the nature of machines, which dominate modern life.

The house’s design theme is continued in the interior.

“We used aluminium composite boards for the exterior cladding to represent the outer shell of the cars. By using these materials, we can create a very smooth surface – like the body of an automobile,” he says.

The clean zigzag lines are also repeated on the light orange wooden-framed entrance door and some of the interior ceiling designs.

“It’s important to have harmony between the interior and exterior design,” he informs me.

These lines on the ceiling, most prominent on the ground floor of this five-bedroom house, are emphasised by clever lighting, in the form of downlights. The clean and soft appearance of the white floor and ceiling contrasts with the rough texture of the grey concrete pillars and roofing beams.

Much effort has gone into keeping the ground floor open plan, with the rooms separated not by solid walls but raised or lowered floors.

The emphasis on openness is accentuated by the shaded front balcony, which connects with the cosy living area at the front corner of the house.

Of course, the compound has not been forgotten and the landscaping contrasts markedly with the backdrop of the house’s façade. Hard edges complimented by the shade of palm trees – the model of traditional villages and tropical living – vie with the extreme modern theme of the house.

Upstairs, the best view of the compound design is on offer in the glass-walled shrine room, which the architect said is one of the house’s main features.

“The shrine is nearly always the focal point in our houses’ design. In a Buddhist dwelling, the shrine is the holy place of its residents,” U Zaw Moe Shwe says.

A glass bridge connects the entrance to the shrine with the four bedrooms located to the rear of the upstairs level.

“The effect is to magnify the space downstairs – in the entrance hall, the height of the ceiling is doubled by this glass bridge.

Orange and other earthy, natural colours are used almost exclusively in the house – on the curtains, paintings and furniture – and contrasting with the crisp white surfaces.

“I take one year to create this kind of playful environment on the inside and out,” U Zaw Moe Shwe says, adding that this is one of his more satisfying projects in both design and execution.