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.
Retail Studio At Orchard
The photography retail studio is to accommodate different programs, circulation and activities which are essential for the client's daily business operations.
In order to do that, we create a 'white canvas' in the tight space as a central architectural device that not only serves as visual interests but more importantly to organize the functions and spaces around it.
First as a painted element, the 'white canvas' starts from the wall adjacent to the Entrance. It slants up and is translated from paint into a smooth surfaced physical wall and leads one's attention immediately to the Reception area and the Company's logo. The reception table is designed as if it is part of a white painted column. There are Maroon and Black squarish elements which are seemingly flushed with the reception table at the front elevation. However, they can be pushed out as sitting chairs for Clients to give the element of surprise when they arrive, and can be pushed back again to flush with the reception table to save space when Clients proceed into the photography studio.
From the Reception area, the 'white canvas' wall bends inwards to create a passageway to lead one further in. Here, the 'white canvas' wall becomes a juxtaposition of recessing and protruding triangulated lines and volumes.
Only when one pushes some of these elements or until someone from inside these walls walks out, that one realizes there is actually a series of white concealed swing doors. These doors, placed along the length of the passageway and the photo studio inside, can swing both in and out, to create visual interest of people moving in-out and to facilitate fast dispersing of groups of people and photographic equipment during photo shoots.
Inside the photo studio is where actual photo shoot sessions take place. The working station for previewing the photos is designed in a manner of 'zig-zags' of shelving and tables, echoing the design language of the 'white canvas'.
The 'white canvas' also serves as a guiding element for viewing the Client's display of his photography portfolio. Again, this starts all the way from the Entrance. The portfolio are on low tables near the Entrance with stacks of creative books and albums and many more are mounted on walls opposite the 'white canvas' walls as carefully choreographed collages of mixed media and are interspersed with rare toys which are part of the Client's enormous collection.
