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    Interiors by Esrawe Studio, Adjaye Associates and Freitag among Dezeen Awards 2020 public vote winners

    Projects by Adjaye Associates, OHLAB and 10 other studios have been chosen by Dezeen readers as winners of the Dezeen Awards 2020 public vote for interiors.Other winners include Robbert de Goede for a former gymnasium that has been converted into an apartment, Koning Eizenberg Architecture for a museum that offers experimental art and technology programs for youth and Eric J Smith for a poet’s studio on a forested Connecticut property.
    A total of 62,447 votes were cast and verified across all categories. The results of the public votes for the Dezeen Awards 2020 interiors categories are listed below.
    All public vote winners announced this week
    Dezeen Awards 2020 public vote winners in the architecture categories were announced yesterday. Design winners will be announced tomorrow followed by the studio winners on Thursday.
    Dezeen Awards winners announced in November
    The public vote is separate from the main Dezeen Awards 2020 judging process, in which entries are assessed by professional judges. We’ll be announcing the Dezeen Awards 2020 winners online at the end of November.
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    Below are the public vote results for interiors:

    Breezeway House by David Boyle Architect has won the Dezeen Awards 2020 public vote for house interior
    House interior

    28% – Breezeway House by David Boyle Architect (winner)27% – Kew Residence by John Wardle Architects19% – Art villa, Puntarenas by Formafatal18% – House in Kyoto by 07BEACH8% – Bismarck House by Andrew Burges Architects

    The Gymnasium by Robbert de Goede won the Dezeen Awards 2020 public vote for apartment interior
    Apartment interior
    39% – The Gymnasium by Robbert de Goede (winner)28% – Jaffa House 4 by Pitsou Kedem Architects16% – The Melburnian Apartment by Edition Office11% – La Nave by NOMOS6% – Apartment Block by Coffey Architects

    Tori Tori Santa Fe, a Japanese restaurant in Mexico, won the public vote for restaurant interior
    Restaurant interior
    41% – Tori Tori Santa Fe by Esrawe Studio (winner)22% – Voisin Organique by Various Associates13% – DooSooGoBang by Studio Lim12% – %Arabica Coffee by B.L.U.E. Architecture Studio12% – Embers Restaurant by Curvink Architects

    Dongshang by Imafuku Architects won the Dezeen Awards 2020 public vote for bar interior
    Bar interior
    35% – Dongshang by Imafuku Architects (winner)27% – The Berkeley Bar & Terrace by Bryan O’Sullivan Studio15% – The Flow of Ecstatic by Daosheng Design13% – Mercantile Wine Bar by Islyn Studio10% – A secret bar by Atelier Xy

    Casa Palerm by OHLAB won the Dezeen Awards public vote for hotel and short-stay interior
    Hotel and short-stay interior
    42% – Casa Palerm by OHLAB (winner)22% – Maana Kamo by Maana Homes17% – Capsule hostel in a rural library by Atelier Tao+C13% – Escondido Oaxaca Hotel by Decada Muebles6% – Trunk House by Trunk

    Office In Cardboard by Studio_VDGA has won the Dezeen Awards 2020 public vote for large workspace interior
    Large workspace interior
    32% – Office In Cardboard by Studio_VDGA (winner)30% – Les Capucins by ATELIER L221% – Weinmanufaktur Clemens Strobl by Destilat Design Studio13% – The Audo by Norm Architects4% – KCC Office by KCC – Design

    Grain loft studio by Richard Parr Associates has won the Dezeen Awards 2020 public vote for small workspace interior
    Small workspace interior
    47% – Grain loft studio by Richard Parr Associates (winner)18% – Tiny Offices by Dutch Invertuals14% – 12 by ORTRAUM Architects12% – Office for creative advertising agency DDB Prague  by B² Architecture9% – CODO by Loftwork and Shuhei Goto Architects

    The Webster, a flagship store in Los Angeles by Adjaye Associates, has won the Dezeen Awards 2020 public vote for large retail interior
    Large retail interior
    36% – The Webster by Adjaye Associates (winner)23% – Grupo Arca Design Center by Esrawe Studio17% – Supreme San Francisco by Brinkworth16% – PSLab London by PSLab5% – Reigning Champ by Peter Cardew Architects3% – Issey Miyake Semba by NOMA

    FREITAG Sweat-Yourself-Shop by FREITAG lab won the public vote for small retail interior
    Small retail interior
    38% –FREITAG Sweat-Yourself-Shop by FREITAG lab (winner)30% –Glossier Seattle by Glossier13% – AESOP Shinjuku by CASE-REAL12% – small ICON by I IN7% – FREITAG Store Kyoto by FREITAG lab

    Vikasa by Enter Projects Asia won the public vote for leisure and wellness interior
    Leisure and wellness interior
    36% – Vikasa by Enter Projects Asia (winner)35% – En skincare by ARCHIEE16% – EKH Children’s Hospital by IF9% – Bathhouse by Verona Carpenter Architects4% – Domstate Zorghotel by Van Eijk & Van der Lubbe

    MuseumLab by Koning Eizenberg Architecture won the Dezeen Awards 2020 public vote for civic and cultural interior
    Civic and cultural interior
    32% – MuseumLab by Koning Eizenberg Architecture (winner)25% – Church of Pope John Paul II by Robert Gutowski Architects18% – Coca-Cola Stage at the Alliance Theatre by Trahan Architects14% – Crematorium Siesegem by KAAN Architecten11% – Models in Model by Wutopia Lab

    Writer’s Studio by Eric J Smith Architect has won the Dezeen Awards 2020 public vote for small interior
    Small interior
    35% – Writer’s Studio by Eric J Smith Architect (winner)18% – Basic Coffee by Office AIO17% – Single Person Gallery by Offhand Practice17% – PROJECT #13 by Studio Wills + Architects13% – Smart Zendo by Sim-Plex Design Studio More

  • 163 Shares199 Views

    Richard Parr Associates expands own office by converting 19th-century barn in the Cotswolds

    A run-down barn that was once used for storing grain now houses additional office space for the Cotswolds-based staff of architecture practice Richard Parr Associates.The 95-square-metre workspace, which Richard Parr Associates has monikered Grain Loft Studio, is shortlisted in the small workspace interior of the year category in the 2020 Dezeen Awards.
    It’s situated amongst the green fields of Easter Park Farm in the Cotswolds, which was created as part of the Woodchester Park Estate in the middle of the 19th century.

    Top image: the Grain Loft Studio includes a wood burner. Above: Richard Parr’s office features a pitched Douglas fir roof
    An old hayloft, cowshed, bullpen and dairy barn on the farm had already been converted into office space for the practice, but as the number of employees has begun to steadily increase, they realised they were in need of extra room.

    The practice’s eponymous founder, Richard Parr, decided to make use of an abandoned barn.

    Parr’s office looks through to a laidback workroom for staff
    Parr’s office is up on the barn’s first floor in what was formerly a loft store for grain.
    After years of dilapidation, the practice could only save one of the room’s original Cotswold stone walls – the rest have been replaced with expansive panels of glazing that offer views of a nearby National Trust park and Parr’s own family home, which is also on the farm.

    The workroom boasts rubber flooring and black leather furnishings
    “It’s been a joy to extend our studio space, providing much needed flexible workspace for our team,” explained Parr, who has found using the Grain Loft Studio particularly handy during the coronavirus pandemic when many have been forced to work from home.
    “With views out onto the surrounding valleys, the new studio has provided solace whilst working remotely from the team.”

    Richard Parr Associates remodels Edwardian house for Rapha founder Simon Mottram

    The room is topped by a pitched roof constructed from lime-washed beams of Douglas fir.
    Directly beneath is a 2.5-metre-wide glass table surrounded by aluminium-frame chairs, where team members can sit and work with Parr throughout the day.

    At the back of the workroom is a timber volume that houses a kitchenette
    A doorway looks through to an informal workroom that’s meant to have a darker, cosier feel.
    The floor is clad with black recycled-rubber tiles, while the ceiling is clad with textured wood-wool panels.
    One wall has been panelled with timber salvaged from a farmhouse in a neighbouring village that was once occupied by Soviet architect Berthold Lubetkin, which Parr hopes will act as a small homage to “the pioneer of British modernism”.
    In the corner of the room is a wood burner, in front of which a black leather sofa and armchairs have been placed. A kitchenette and small shower room are contained within a grooved timber volume towards the rear of the room.

    There’s a meeting area downstairs in the barn
    An industrial steel staircase leads down to the barn’s ground floor, which was previously just used as a cart bay but can now serve as a meeting room or breakout area.
    It’s simply dressed with a couple of curved bench seats that were carved from a single tree, and a white version of Finnish-American architect Eero Saarinen’s signature Tulip table.
    The practice preserved the space’s existing cobbled walls but has covered the floor in stable-block pavers rescued from another building on the farm.

    The exterior of the converted barn
    Richard Parr Associates was established in 2012 and works between offices in the Cotswolds and west London.
    The practice’s Grain Loft Studio will go head-to-head in the Dezeen Awards against projects such as 12 by Ortraum Architects, a music and ceramics studio that’s nestled in the back garden of a house in Helsinki.
    Photography is by Gilbert McCarragher.
    Project credits:
    Architect: Richard Parr AssociatesInteriors: Richard Parr AssociatesContractor: JM WestonFire engineer: Oculus

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  • 125 Shares199 Views

    Case-Real contrasts plaster and steel inside Aesop store in Shinjuku

    Coarse plaster walls offset glinting stainless-steel display fixtures in this restrained store that architecture studio Case-Real has designed for Aesop in Shinjuku, Tokyo.The Aesop store occupies a glass-fronted retail unit in Shinjuku, a buzzing, tourist-heavy ward of Tokyo populated with bars, eateries and neon-lit billboards.

    Case-Real used just two materials to create the store’s simple interior
    When it came to designing the store’s interiors, Case-Real wanted to capture both what it describes as a sense of “artificial chaos” that permeates Shinjuku and the natural quality of Aesop’s skincare products.

    The locally based studio decided to use two contrasting materials that it felt reflected the dichotomy of natural and artificial – plaster and steel.

    Plaster covers the store’s walls, while steel has been used for display fixtures
    All of the store’s gently curving walls are coated with coarse beige plaster, which leaves behind a textured surface finish.
    The same plaster has been applied to a section of the store’s facade, creating a simple backdrop for Aesop’s logo.

    Aesop’s creative director selects significant moments from the brand’s first book

    Paint in the same beige hue has been washed across the ceiling and floor.

    A counter where customers can test products is also made from steel
    Shiny stainless steel has then been used to craft a series of lengthy display shelves that bend in line with the walls and several low-lying cabinets where extra stock can be hidden away, complete with steel handles.
    The metal has additionally been used to make the store’s service desk, as well as a long counter inbuilt with round washbasins where customers are invited to test out products or observe demonstrations from staff.
    A border of steel has also been created around the entrance doorway.

    Plaster gives the walls a rough surface finish
    The only other feature that Case-Real has incorporated in the store is a chunky plaster bench seat supported by cylindrical steel legs.
    It has been placed directly in front of a window that looks onto the busy streets of Shinjuku, allowing customers to quietly sit and people-watch.

    Plaster also appears on the store’s facade
    Case-Real was established in the year 2000 and is led by designer Koichi Futatsumata. Four years ago, the studio designed the interiors of another Aesop store in the Japanese city of Sapporo, covering its walls with locally-sourced volcanic stone.
    The studio’s Aesop Shinjuku store is shortlisted in the small retail interior category of this year’s Dezeen Awards. It will compete against projects such as the Pinocchio, a tiny 4.5-metre-wide bakery in Yokohama, and the Glossier pop-up in Seattle, where products are displayed amongst grassy mounds covered in wildflowers.
    Photography is by Daisuke Shima.
    Project credits:
    Design: Koichi Futatusmata, Yuki Onita (Case-Real)Construction: &SLighting plan: BRANCH lighting design (Tatsuki Nakamura)

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    Rockwell Group completes luxury residents-only leisure club for New York's Waterline Square

    A sinuous wooden walkway connects different amenities in this private leisure club that architecture and design firm Rockwell Group has created for residents of New York’s Waterline Square development.The Waterline Club by Rockwell Group links together the trio of skyscrapers that make up Waterline Square, a five-acre residential development located on Manhattan’s Upper West Side between West 59th and 61st streets.
    Each of the three buildings was designed by a different architect – Rafael Viñoly, Richard Meier and KPF – and together accommodates 263 luxury apartments.

    An elevated wooden walkway crosses over Nexus, the club’s central gathering spot
    Residents now have exclusive access to 77,000 square feet (7,153 square metres) of leisure amenities available in The Waterline Club, which occupies three subterranean levels beneath the development.

    When devising the interiors, Rockwell Group made sure to make room for activities that “appeal to both left and right-brain thinking”.

    Residents can use The Waterline Club’s fitness centre
    “Our research led to a major observation: New Yorkers have diverse, dynamic interests,” the firm explained.
    “Rather than offer only the typical athletic facilities, we wanted to appeal to New Yorkers’ balanced approach to life, which includes art, music, community, and play,” it continued.
    “We grouped active amenities together, and social and cultural amenities together, establishing a micro-community and an oasis within the city.”

    The club also includes a basketball court
    The central hub of the club is a vast travertine-lined room, dubbed Nexus, which is located down on the third, lowest level. Dotted with an array of plush leather sofas and sculptural armchairs, the room has sightlines through to activity rooms at this level like the gym and tennis court.

    David Rockwell and Joyce Wang team up for first Equinox Hotel in New York

    At this level there’s also a 30-foot-tall (nine-metre-tall) rock climbing wall, a half-pipe skate park, a golf simulation room, a music recording studio and an indoor greenhouse where residents can do gardening.

    Musical residents can make use of the club’s recording studio
    Winding up and across the Nexus is a sinuous wooden bridge that connects visitors to amenities on the club’s upper floors.
    Rockwell Group, which describes the structure as a “circulation ribbon”, took cues from other notable pedestrian paths in New York such as the spiralling walkway inside the Guggenheim Museum and the looping running track that goes around Central Park’s reservoir.
    “The bridge inspires guests to seek out new adventures,” added the firm. “It dips down in the centre, which gives the illusion of tension or stretching and also evokes speed and movement.”

    There’s additionally a series of playrooms for residents’ children
    Among the selection of amenities on the club’s second floor are children’s playrooms, a games arcade, a pets area and a variety of fitness spaces including a basketball court, kickboxing studio and mini athletics field which is fit-out with astroturf.
    This is followed by a sauna, spa treatment rooms and two swimming pools – one of which is Olympic-sized – up on the club’s first floor.

    One of the two swimming pools which can be found on the club’s first floor
    The Waterline Club is a short distance from the high-end hotel that Rockwell Group and Joyce Wang Studio designed for fitness brand Equinox.
    Opened to the public at the end of the last year, the hotel includes 212 guest rooms, a state-of-the-art gym and a rooftop pool that directly overlooks Thomas Heatherwick’s Vessel project.
    Photography is by Evan Joseph, excluding top image by Scott Frances.

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    Seven bedrooms with eye-catching statement walls

    From graphic tilework to hand-painted wallpaper, architects and designers have found a myriad of ways to create striking surfaces in the bedroom. Here are seven standout examples.

    Duplex in NYC, USA, by Crosby Studios

    Crosby Studios founder Harry Nuriev and his partner Tyler Billinger combined white tilework with a gold-lame headboard to create a statement wall in the bedroom of their New York apartment.
    Nuriev and Billinger didn’t hold back when it came to designing the rest of the room, which boasts ultraviolet side tables and throw cushions, as well as a hand-shaped light.
    Find out more about Duplex in NYC ›

    Hygge Studio, Brazil, by Melina Romano
    Tan-coloured bricks that feature in the communal living spaces of this Sao Paulo apartment continue through to the bedroom to form a rustic feature wall, finished with a lengthy headboard upholstered in terracotta-red fabric.
    Interior designer Melina Romano explained that the warm medley of materials and colours are meant to channel a sense of hygge – a Danish term for a feeling of cosiness or contentment.
    Find out more about Hygge Studio ›

    Chelsea Pied-à-Terre, USA, by Stadt Architecture
    Gold paint seems to ooze down the painterly, deep-green statement wall that features in the bedroom of this New York apartment.
    The owners, who originally hail from southwest Canada, had wanted to bring the lush verdancy of the landscapes in their hometown into the apartment’s interior.
    “We couldn’t literally accommodate a green living wall into the living areas,” Stadt Architecture explained. “However, we reconsidered ‘landscape’ as a custom hand-painted wall covering.”
    Find out more about Chelsea Pied-à-Terre ›

    Apartment A, Belgium, by Atelier Dialect
    The unusual open-plan bedroom and bathroom inside this Antwerp apartment includes a statement wall clad in contrasting black and white subway tiles.
    It serves as a graphic backdrop to the room’s freestanding tub, wrapped in shiny panels of mirrored steel.
    Find out more about Apartment A ›

    Heat 360, Ukraine, by Azovskiy & Pahomova Architects
    Blotches of rust colour the dark slate-tile wall that extends across the back of this master bedroom, which is set inside a family home in Ukraine’s Dnipro region.
    The floor-to-ceiling windows that run along the front the bedroom act as another statement wall, providing uninterrupted views out towards the landscaped garden and a nearby river.
    Find out more about Heat 360 ›

    Shkrub, Ukraine, by Sergey Makhno
    Rows of rounded ceramic tiles create an almost scaly surface finish on the wall of the guest bedroom in architect Sergey Makhno’s family home.
    This is one of several statement walls Makhno has incorporated in the property – a plaster wall in his own master bedroom has been sculpted to resemble the craggy face of a cliff.
    Find out more about Shkrub ›

    Casa A12, Spain, by Lucas y Hernández-Gil
    A large cobalt-blue circle forms a simple but striking feature wall in the bedroom of this Madrid duplex apartment.
    This shade of blue and coral orange have been applied across the rest of the home in homage to the colours used in Number 14, a painting by 20th-century abstract artist Mark Rothko.
    Find out more about Casa A12 ›

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    Agnieszka Owsiany Studio creates tranquil apartment in Poznań for couple working in medicine

    The high-pressure medical jobs of the couple living in this Poznań apartment led Agnieszka Owsiany Studio to apply a calming mix of wood and pale marble throughout the interiors.Set inside a newly built residential block that overlooks a botanical garden, the Botaniczna Apartment is home to a surgeon and his wife who runs a medical clinic.

    Above: the living area. Top image: a wood-lined hallway leads to the apartment’s master bedroom
    The couple had purchased the 90-square-metre apartment as an empty shell but soon brought Agnieszka Owsiany Studio on board to develop the interiors.

    They requested that the studio compose a calming home environment where they could unwind at the end of their often stressful workdays.

    The couple’s personal trinkets can be displayed in a long walnut sideboard
    “My clients asked for a high quality, almost hotel-like space as they were in need of everyday comfort,” the studio’s founder, Agnieszka Owsiany, told Dezeen.
    “I really wanted to create something timeless, hence the idea to use the materials such as wood and travertine which age beautifully and hopefully won’t be replaced within many years,” she continued.
    “All the kinds of wood and stone I chose, they have these nice, soothing warm tones.”

    A black dining table contrast the neutral colours elsewhere in the room
    Wooden chevron flooring runs throughout the home’s open-plan living and dining room, at the centre of which sits a plump sofa upholstered in brown leather.
    A coffee table perches on a fluffy rug just in front. It runs alongside a four-metre-long walnut sideboard where the couple can tuck books and magazines, or display small ornaments.

    The kitchen boasts oak cabinetry and a travertine marble island
    The kitchen is placed in the corner of the room, finished with oak cabinetry. Slim slabs of creamy travertine marble have been used to make the splashback behind the stove and the breakfast island.

    Nadzieja restaurant in Poznań features understated Bauhaus-style interiors

    There’s additionally a console made from burl wood – specifically chosen by the studio for its distinctive grain pattern – and a jet-black dining table fashion from bogwood, which is meant to stand in stark contrast to the otherwise neutral shades in the room.

    Burl wood has been used to make a distinctive vanity desk in the bedroom
    A cosy, wood-panelled hallway leads to the apartment’s other rooms, which lie behind floor-to-ceiling doors.
    Agnieszka Owsiany Studio has continued using much the same material palette – for example, burl wood has been used to create a vanity desk in the master bedroom. Oak storage units feature in the adjacent walk-in-wardrobe, which is neatly obscured by a linen-curtain screen.

    Travertine marble also covers surfaces in the bathroom
    The same travertine marble that features in the kitchen has been used to line surfaces in the bathroom and to make the washbasins.
    In the home office, oak lines the back wall and a full-height gridded shelf.

    The home office includes a full-height oak shelving unit
    This isn’t the first project that Agnieszka Owsiany Studio has completed in the Polish city of Poznań.
    At the end of last year, the studio designed the interiors of restaurant Nadzieja, filling it with Bauhaus-inspired details like tubular steel-frame chairs and pale partition walls that echo the buildings seen in Tel Aviv’s White City.
    Photography is by Pion Studio.

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  • 125 Shares189 Views

    Atelier L2 creates modular wooden interiors for Ateliers des Capucins

    Rennes studio Atelier L2 has installed 20 wooden boxes as modular units for shops, exhibitions and hospitality businesses inside Ateliers des Capucins, a covered square in a 19th-century arsenal in Brest, France.The Ateliers des Capucins has been shortlisted for a Dezeen Awards 2020 in the large workspace interior category.
    The studio’s brief was to design a number of shells in order to create an interior street with two floors inside the historical arsenal building, covering 5,000 square metres.

    Top: the project is located inside the 10,000 square-metres former arsenal. Above: Units with gabled roofs are slotted into the ceiling
    Atelier L2 used laminated veneer lumber (LVL) for the shells, which were designed to stand out against the metal structure and pitched glass roof of the 10,000 square-metres Ateliers des Capucins.

    Each wooden shell measures between 150 and 400 square metres, with some of the concept stores in the space using more than one.

    Some facades are as tall as 13 metres
    “In this way, the client would be able to find buyers who could convert each ‘box’ to complete the cultural and service offer,” Atelier L2 co-founder Pierre Lelièvre told Dezeen.
    The boxes are a permanent fixture of the Ateliers des Capucins – which functions as a large, covered market space – and can’t be moved.
    “Even though their appearance suggests it, the ‘boxes’ are absolutely fixed and cannot be moved under any circumstances,” Lelièvre said.
    “Their technical and structural complexity does not allow such flexibility. They are indeed equipped with all the necessary networks to host any kind of activity: exhibitions, restaurants, offices, breweries, co-working.”

    Laminated veneer lumber was used for the facades and floors
    The studio chose to use LVL made of spruce veneers for the structure of the facades and the floors, which span 10 to 14 metres, as it allowed them to create the units with as little impact on the existing building as possible.

    Studio VDGA lines office in India with curving walls of honeycomb cardboard

    “The entire design of the project was thought out with respect for natural resources,” Lelièvre explained.
    “The facing of the facades is made of spruce, the internal bracing uses gypsum boards and the insulation is made of wood wool. The floor boxes are ballasted with aggregates.”

    The wood stands out against the 19th-century building
    Windows were inserted into the facades of the wooden shells, to make them resemble many smaller houses inside the bigger building.
    The ceiling height of the huge hall space means some of the boxes have facades that reach as high as 13 metres, and gabled roofs that have been slotted into the ceiling.

    The units are used for retail spaces, offices and more
    “The use of wood was a way for us to stand out against the existing building, which is entirely made of stone and metal, while also giving an ephemeral side to our layout,” Lelièvre said.
    “We wanted to give the feeling that our project was simply set down in this historical and remarkable setting.”
    Atelier L2 is based in Rennes and was founded by Julie de Legge and Pierre Lelièvre.
    Also on the shortlist for the large workspace interior category are the monochrome interiors for KCC Office in a former factory, and The Audo hotel in Copenhagen that doubles as a showroom.

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  • 138 Shares189 Views

    Sim-Plex Design Studio creates a four-bedroom smart home in Hong Kong

    Voice-activated technology and space-saving furniture helped Sim-Plex Design Studio turn a two-bedroom home in Hong Kong into Smart Zendo, a four-bedroom apartment with hidden storage.Smart Zendo is in Hong Kong’s Coastal Skyline neighbourhood. The project has been shortlisted for Dezeen Awards 2020 in the small interior of the year category.

    A coffee table appears on voice command
    Sim-Plex Design Studio converted the home for a couple who often travel for work and needed room for multigenerational living.

    “Eric and Lory moved to Hong Kong from Taiwan many years ago and have a son,” said Sim-Plex founder Patrick Lam.

    Benches hide storage in the kitchen area
    “Eric needs to travel frequently throughout the country, and Lory is a flight attendant. The lack of time spent at home means they often need their grandmother to take care of the children,” added Lam.
    “Eric and Lory often talk about the scenery and homestay in Taiwan and how they missed them so much.”

    The apartment can now house four or five people
    Sim-Plex Design Studio aimed to recreate the feeling of their old home in Taiwan while building a flexible living space that could make the most of the 492-square-foot home.
    Wide windows make the most of the views and pale Maplewood floors and cabinets were chosen to create a calm and warm atmosphere.

    A screen unfolds to turn the living area into a private room
    The floor of the living room is a raised platform with trap door-style elements that lift to reveal hidden storage for children’s toys and other household necessities.
    A coffee table up rises up from the platform to create a sunken bench where the adults can sit and enjoy tea ceremonies.

    Toys can be stored in the raised platform floor
    Technology is everywhere in the apartment, but the interior designers deliberately made it less obvious, preferring a subtle approach rather than overtly futuristic placements.
    Smart homes should use technology to enhance the lives of busy city dwellers, not distract them, said Lam.

    A table rises up for sharing a tea ceremony
    Voice-activated technology allows the residents to open the curtains, turn on the lights, lock or unlock the door and even raise the table.
    Curtains, screens and the home security system are all controlled by apps and remotes, and plugs and wall sockets are all secreted away.

    Big windows frame the scenery
    “The integrated TV cabinet wall and the wooden floor platform are plain and warm, yet hide a large number of intelligent devices,” said Lam.
    “The design is also integrated into the traditional Feng Shui doctrine, to create a spiritual space where tradition and technology, people and scenery are combined.”

    A raised platform in the bedroom forms a desk chair
    Eric, in particular, is a keen practitioner of Feng Shui, so Sim-Plex Design Studio carefully oriented the living space according to this. Maplewood was chosen to represent the wood element of Feng Shui.

    Pets Playground apartment in Hong Kong is designed for couple, a parrot and a cat

    “Although the traditional Feng Shui aesthetics and smart technology seems to be contradictory, if applied properly, they also have their compatibility,” said Lam.

    Wood was chosen for its symbolism in Feng Shui
    The open plan kitchen and living room freed up the old kitchen room, which has been converted into a third bedroom for the family’s live-in maid.
    Sliding doors can screen off the living area from the kitchen to create an extra fourth bedroom for when the grandmother comes to stay.

    A makeup table folds out in the bedroom
    Space-saving furniture has been used throughout, including rounded benches that tuck under the dining table in the kitchen area. More storage is integrated into the base of the chairs and the slim drawers in the tabletop.
    In the child’s room, the platform-style bed doubles as a chair for sitting at a desk, while the master bedroom has a hidden makeup table and the bed can double as a stool for using it.

    Marble tiles clad the walls in the bathroom
    The bathroom, with its marble-tiled walls, was modelled on a boutique hotel aesthetic.
    Sim-Plex Design Studio was founded by Patrick Lam and specialises in small space solutions for Hong Kong residents.
    The studio recently designed an apartment in Yuen Long for a multigenerational family – and their pet cat and parrot.

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