Curtain Apartment
The apartment in downtown Singapore, which belongs to a young couple, is very small in area. To maximize space, the public arena which consists of the Kitchen, Dining and Living, is in one open continuous space. This space leads further to an outdoor balcony. The private spaces of a bedroom, a utility room and a bathroom are tucked away.
The clients have an additional request for the Living to be speedily converted into a guest room when their relatives stay over on some days of the month.
We decided to use fabric as a demarcation device and take the opportunity to play up on the various ways curtain fabric in residential interiors can be utilized other than to filter natural sunlight from the exterior.
At the Living, when the curtains are drawn back, they parked neatly by the 2 sides of the lounge sofa-bed. When the need arises for the space to be converted into a sleeping area, the curtains can be readily closed from the 2 sides to form an enclosed zone within the Living. A room within a room is created. One can still access the outdoor balcony without entering into the newly converted room.
The pelmets on the ceiling that hide the curtain track, are designed and detailed to negotiate 2 different ceiling heights of the Living.
The pelmets are also intended to be the design interests of the ceiling, and over the dining table, it becomes light pelmet to hides track lights within them.
The clients asked for as much storage as possible in the tiny Bedroom.
In response to that, we designed the sleeping area on a low timber platform and detailed a full height open storage area for wardrobe and other storage uses. In place of typical wardrobe doors, we designed fabrics which can be drawn to cover up the storage area. The same fabric is also used as curtain for the windows opposite storage area. When closed, the full height fabrics soften the look of the bedroom as they hide the windows and the storage shelves. During daytime, the bedroom feels lofty as natural daylight filters in gently. At night, the bedroom exudes a chic and intimate ambiance, which the clients appreciate.
Frames & Zones
The clients are a middle aged couple with 2 teenagers children.
The design brief is simple enough: a look that is clean and cosy.
We decide to interpret the spaces in a more architectural way: to create an interior space within a space.
For the Foyer, Dining and Living area, we created a painted border to 'frame' up the views beyond.
From the Foyer, the Living will be 'framed' up, and vice versa.
The 2 zones are painted in different hues of creams.
In order to make the spaces flow from one to another and not to make the space segregated, one zone is painted in a cream hue that is just slightly different from the other zone.
The result is a very layered look that adds visual depth to this Public zone.
For the teenagers' bedrooms, we want to add more controlled drama and to heighten the senses a notch up.
The study area is created entirely in one colour; the paint on the walls, ceiling, and the laminates on the cabinets and tables, in either luminous blues or sparkling whites
The bed and wardrobe area is 'zoned' in Creams to contrast with the blues and whites.
The resulting look actually makes the rooms look bigger than it is, and way more exciting.
Note that cabinetry in the bedrooms is designed in an elegant manner that emphasizes the texture of the fabric-grained laminate patterned
with neat interval lines. This is a similar language that is consistent with the cabinetry in other areas of the apartment.
Boutique House
Boutique House, which is situated at a prime district of Singapore, belongs to a working professional. It has 2 rooms and a kitchen integrated with the Living, which views out towards the Mercedes Benz and BMW showroom buildings, which are fine architectural pieces in their own rights.
The Client has a long list of requirements. A larger Kitchen. A Dining area. A Living space. A Working area.
Storage for collection of clothes and fashion accessories. Display for many collectable toys. Housing for a cat. And so on. In order to carve useful spaces out within the small area, studies has to be done on the plan and the sections of the interior spaces rigorously.
Other than the functional aspects to be met, we also notice the Client's wish to live stylishly. Our proposal thus is to create an interior that is very much 'boutique' hotel like. The apartment has to look modern, inviting, fun and maybe even a little funky.
For most parts of the apartment, we create full length and height cabinetry for TV, entertainment consoles and many other items so that most of the clutter can be kept away inside concealed doors. Reflective white surfaces are used on the facade of these cabinets to make the space look brighter and larger.
After this is done, we carve out recesses to house the display items: TV, library of Cds and collectable toys. A retro funky sofa is 'slotted' under a row of cabinets which was cladded in mirror. The same row of tall cabinets also neatly hide the housing for the client's pet cat.
These recesses are then cladded or painted in bursting colours of lime green, metallic blue and luminous pink. These 'dabbings' on the white canvas with burst of colours create hip visual factor while making the space look bigger than it really is.
An exception to this rule is a volume of book cabinet in lime green that juts out high from a wall near the windows. This allows a person to sit below it to use the study table. A mirror is positioned under the suspended cabinet to give it a 'floating' illusion, as well as to make the study space look wider. Customised sliding screens with small hexagons are designed and put in place to prevent the cat from jumping through the external windows. While functional, this adds another layer of visual interest to the interiors.
The original kitchen already has a small hood and hob, but the client finds it impractical. Thus we added a 'new' wing to the existing kitchen, with new Bosch ceiling mounted hood and full functioned hobs.
An 'extendable' table from Franc Franc is positioned beside this new kitchen 'wing', to take full advantage of the proximity for quick serving of food. A Louis Poulsen LC Shutters lamp is positioned above the table, creating a soft and gentle ambience for a private dining experience. Philippe Starck La Boheme chairs in various hues can be used for both the dining and study tables. And they can be used as coffee tables at the Living when necessary. The client brought in an Eames Elephant as visual marker, and perhaps as a 'companion' toy for the cat.
In the MasterRoom, we designed a headboard for the bed in a similar design language. Pockets of hues contrast with the reflective white cabinets and are positioned to display different collectible soft toys. The rest of the headboard can be used as concealed storages. The two vertical sides of the headboard are slanted inwards, so that there can be more space for maintenance on the bay-window. This detailing also gives the headboard a 'paper-thin' look as the width of it cannot be seen at most angles where you look at the headboard. A pair of green Ferruccio Laviani Take as bedside lamps anchored the look.
The client requires so much storage for apparel and other fashion accessories that we decided to make a bold design statement for the wardrobes and perhaps to derive a new typology for wardrobe. Typically, wardrobes are designed as a single item, a single volume. For this project, we decide to 'break' this single volume down into different parts.
These parts are expressed as different volumes, much like storage chests, stacked neatly one above another or placed side by side. The result is an original and striking 'collage' that somewhat resembles an art installation of storage trunks or a funky fashion boutique or something in between.
