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.
Asia Interior Design Award X Journey In A Residence
The owners of the apartment bought this residence for almost just one reason.
They saw and liked the lush green tropical trees that can be seen outside the window of the very last room and decided that this is the place they were looking for. All else can be worked around.
We decide that this is such a strong emotive quality that could be translated architecturally into a compelling narrative for the interior design. That is where the name of this project, Journey in an Apartment, came about.
The original apartment has configurations and sizes of internal spaces which do not fit in with the new owners' needs and narrative. Thus, almost all the internal non-load bearing walls other than the bathroom's, were removed to create a blank canvas for new spaces.
The starting point of the 'journey' is the entrance of the apartment. The circulation inside is planned in a straight route. From this starting point, one can actually see the end of the apartment, a focal point, where a landscape painting by ARKHILITE is placed. The painting attracts one to proceed towards it.
Traditionally the Living space with sofas and TV is one of the first zones after one enters a residence in this part of the world. We rethink this typical typology here. The client needs more of space where they can read, work, talk while having a cappuccino and sandwich. That is their lifestyle.
Thus, we made the first and biggest zone a living area that is surrounded by rows of white suspended shelves for books and displays. A timber table that generously fits eight persons serves both dining and working purposes.
Continue with the journey and one arrives at the Kitchen, double loaded, with full kitchen appliances and storage. The entrance to the bathroom is hidden on the left, as one proceeds further. Move in further and one discovers the laundry zone on the left too.
The finale of the journey is naturally the last space. Here one can finally see the details of the painting. The painting is inspired from the bird's eye view of residence amongst the lush greenery. It is an abstraction of the plan view of the estate where the residence is. A long white island table sits in the middle. We bring some of greenery inside by hanging pots of inverted plants above it.
The owners sit around this table for breakfast, sipping coffee, often reading a good book, sometimes dazing and admiring the trees and view which got them here in the first place.
