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      Ortraum Architects builds timber music studio beside house in Helsinki

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      Ortraum Architects has built an asymmetric studio called 12 in the garden of a house in Helsinki, Finland, to provide its owners with space to compose music and make ceramics.The structure was commissioned by a couple who wanted an external space to work from home, beside their existing 1960s home in the Jollas neighbourhood.
      It features two contrasting storeys that Ortraum Architects has set askew, giving rise to a sculptural form and two individual workspaces inside for the couple.

      Ortraum Architects’ 12 studio has two storeys set askew
      The 12 studio, which has been shortlisted in the Dezeen Awards in the small workspace interior category, measures 72-square-metres and is complete with a kitchen and bathroom.

      While providing individual studio space for the couple, it is designed to be easily adapted into a guest house or even become a home for the client’s children in the future.

      The studio is in the garden of a house in Helsinki
      “The client couple needed two main spaces, a ceramics workshop and a music-composing studio,” said the studio. “The massing is visually divided into two levels, reflecting the two different building functions,” it continued.
      “The plan also needed to be flexible enough to function additionally as a guest house and future home for one of the two children in the family, so bathroom and kitchen spaces were included.”

      A ceramic studio is on the ground floor
      The material palette of 12 is deliberately pared-back, with its cross-laminated-timber (CLT) structure left exposed internally and externally. On the exterior, this will turn grey with time to help the structure blend in with its surroundings.
      Its entrance is marked by large glass doors that face the existing home, sheltered by a small cantilevered corner of the second floor.

      A hidden black staircase has storage in its treads
      This entrance opens into the ceramics studio on the ground floor, which is complete with a small bathroom.
      A black wooden staircase that leads to the first floor is concealed behind a wall and features treads that double as storage units.

      The building contains a music studio upstairs
      Above, the first floor contains the music studio. Its angular form was developed to help enhance the acoustics of the space and make it suitable for recording music.
      This space is complete with two large windows that open towards a neighbouring forest, alongside a small balcony and gallery level for use as an extra lounge area.

      The music studio has an angular form to enhance its acoustics
      Ortraum Studio’s goal for 12 was for it to “be a best practice example for environmentally friendly construction and infill projects in a suburban context”.

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      For this reason, its size was dictated by an existing concrete foundation from an old garage, avoiding the need for new and obtrusive groundwork, while its structure was prefabricated using CLT to avoid waste and speed up construction time.
      It has also been developed to facilitate natural ventilation and is powered by solar panels and heated using a ground source heat pump of the main home.

      A small balcony looks out to the neighbouring houses
      As part of the project, Ortraum Architects also built a small playhouse for the client’s children, which is also made of CLT and is tied to a pine tree in the garden.
      Named the Birdhouse, it features heart-shaped windows and is modelled on pictures that the children drew of their “dream house”.

      A playhouse sits next to the studio
      Ortraum architects is a small Finnish design studio headed up by architect Martin Lukasczyk. In 2017, it completed a family home in Finland that has a number of child-friendly features including a trapeze, a climbing wall and a hammock.
      Photography is by Marc Goodwin.

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      Architect John Wardle renovates his own house in Australia

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      The founder of John Wardle Architects has remodelled Kew Residence, his Melbourne home of 25 years, using Victorian ash and handmade glazed tiles from Japan.John Wardle and his wife Susan have owned the two-storey house, which has been shortlisted for Dezeen Awards 2020 house interior of the year, for a quarter of a decade and renovated it multiple times.

      Wardle has owned Kew Residence for 25 years
      “My first year of practice coincided with my first year of homeownership,” he told Dezeen.

      “I undertook the pre-purchase inspection of the house and completely missed the tell-tale sign of termite infestation throughout which required a more substantial re-build than first anticipated!” he added.
      “Three children wore out the last iteration.”

      Victorian ash lines the walls, floors and ceilings
      With the couple’s adult children now grown up and moved out, the kitchen and the first-floor study became the focal point of the house.  For this version of Kew Residence, the architect focused on creating spaces to display his art collection.
      “Of particular interest to me is the study especially during this time in lockdown, as I spend just about all my daylight hours solely in this space,” said Wardle.
      Here, built-in shelves form an informal display for the couple’s collection of ceramic art and sculpture.

      Built-in bookshelves line the study
      Victorian ash clads the floors and ceiling to create the sensation of a “cocoon” with views of the leafy garden beyond.
      “The corner window arrangement is a direct reference to a composition of the window seat in the living room of the Fisher House in Pennsylvania by Louis Kahn,” explained the architect.
      “My arrangement of five windowpanes, ventilation panel and a window seat is abstracted from the original as I’ve arranged them around my view out across Melbourne.”

      The architect collects Japanese sculptures
      The wood also forms plinths for displaying certain sculptures and acts as a neutral backdrop for the art displayed on shelves.
      “For many years I’ve had a fascination for ceramics both as objects and the process of their making and have collected many objects from many places over time,” said the architect.
      “My travels to Japan have resulted in many of my favourite pieces.”

      The staircase is also made from Victorian ash
      Concealed sliding panels, discrete hand pulls and hidden cupboards conceal storage throughout Kew Residence.
      Wardle designed the joinery, including the built-in bookcases and main staircase, himself and had it built by expert craftspeople.

      Wood and ceramic tiles in the kitchen
      His choice of timber, Victorian ash, is the main material used throughout the house.
      “I’ve always had an affinity for this beautiful primary indigenous species,” said Wardle.
      “Vast forests of this majestic tree were decimated in bushfires here in Australia earlier this year, unfortunately. It’s not something I would feel confident in specifying again until substantial regrowth occurs.”

      Grooved tiles form a tall splashback in the kitchen
      The timber features in the kitchen too, alongside dark and striking ceramic tiles made by INAX in Japan. These narrow, concave tiles have been arranged vertically to create an interestingly textured splashback that reaches to the wood-lined ceiling.
      INAX tiles also line the master bathroom, which was built in an earlier extension to Kew Residence.

      INAX tiles from Japan feature in the bathroom
      Wardle has visited Tokoname, where the makers live, and Kew Residence features five different styles of the ceramic tiles.

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      “Our practice has a long association with INAX, the Japanese tile manufacturer, having used their tiles in the suspended gallery in our Phoenix project, as well as 60,000 plus individual tiles embedded into the concrete facade panels of our Melbourne Conservatorium project,” said Wardle.
      “The ancestors of INAX produced the tiles so loved by Frank Lloyd Wright and his partners and used to great effect on the Imperial Hotel.”

      Five different kinds of tiles decorate the house
      Phoenix Central Park, an arts venue designed jointly by John Wardle Architects and Durbach Block Jaggers, has also been shortlisted for Dezeen Awards 2020.
      Earlier this year Wardle was awarded the Gold Medal from the Australian Institute of Architects.
      Photography is by Trevor Mein and Sharyn Cairns.
      Project credits:
      Architect: John Wardle ArchitectsProject director: John WardleModel maker and designer: Andrew WongPA: Luca VezzosiInterior Designer: Jeff Arnold, Elisabetta ZanellaConstruction: Overend ConstructionStructural Engineer: 4 Site EngineersBuilding Services Engineer: JWABuilding Surveyor: Sampson Wong

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      Luigi Rosselli Architects creates wave-like facade for Bondi Bombora house in Sydney

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      Turquoise and sea-green tiles wash over the undulating facade of this family home in Sydney, designed by local practice Luigi Rosselli Architects.The Bondi Bombora house is occupied by three generations of a family and their gang of dogs, cats and chickens.

      The swelling ocean waters of nearby Bondi beach informed the design of the three-storey home, which Luigi Rosselli Architects has named after bombora – an indigenous Australian term used to describe a wave which forms over submerged fragments of reef or rock offshore.

      “It’s an homage to that surfers’ haven; to the swell and the waves that have formed a rich intertidal culture for millennia,” said the practice.

      Elements of the home have been made to emulate the shape of a wave, like its undulating front elevation.
      Slim turquoise and sea green-coloured tiles arranged in a herringbone pattern cover the bottom third of the elevation, which the practice hopes will “shimmer in the daylight like the surface of the ocean”.

      Ripple-edged frames made from black steel also surround the windows and doorways.
      Black steel has additionally been used to clad the top third of the house, which the practice likens to an “armoured battleship”.

      Inside Bondi Bombora are a series of airy, light-filled living spaces with high ceilings, which Luigi Rosselli Architects created with the help of interiors studio Alwill.
      The practice had been inspired by the lofty proportions of piano nobiles, or “noble floors” – the first storey of grand Italian palazzos where main reception rooms and bedrooms would be placed.

      One side of the home accommodates an open-plan kitchen with bright white cabinetry. Inhabitants can eat at the marble-topped breakfast island, or around the more formal wooden dining table.
      Where possible, Alwill has incorporated practical features for family living. For example, a sideboard that runs along the rear of the room includes a fold-out desk where the kids can do their homework.

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      Expansive glazed panels can be slid back to access the garden, where landscaper Michael Bates has planted an abundance of fruit trees and pollen-friendly plants for the bees the inhabitants keep.

      A double-height void accommodates a small study area and a stairwell that leads up to the Bondi Bombora’s sleeping quarters.
      Cocoon-like pendant lamps made from black and white mesh cascade down the centre.

      The entire back wall of the stairwell has been in-built with a towering bookshelf. More books can be stored in the stepped shelving unit that’s been built to sit alongside the steps.
      A deep-set window on the first-floor landing has also been transformed into a cosy reading nook.

      Luigi Rosselli Architects has been established since 1984 and works out of offices in Sydney’s Surry Hills suburb.
      The practice has designed a number of dwellings around the Australian city. Among them is Peppertree Villa, a 1920s home that features a dramatic spiral staircase and contemporary glass conservatory.
      Photography is by Prue Ruscoe.
      Project credits:
      Architects: Luigi RosselliProject architects: Sean Johnson, Diana YangInterior designers: Alwill InteriorsBuilder: Building With OptionsJoiner: BWO Fitout and InteriorsStructural consultant: Geoff Ninnes Fong and PartnersLandscaper: Bates LandscapeWindows: Evolution Window SystemsMetal roofing/cladding: Traditional Metal Roofing

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      TS-H_01 by Tom Strala is a pared-back family home on a Swiss hillside

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      Architect Tom Strala has completed TS-H_01, a minimal family home just outside of Bern, Switzerland that includes separate living quarters for parents and children.TS-H_01 perches on a grassy slope in the municipality of Kirchdorf and is occupied by a couple with two daughters and a son.
      Local architect Tom Strala has designed the house to offer a “contemporary form of cohabitation” where parents and children can easily live side by side.

      “I always aim to create a tailor-made suit for my clients,” Strala told Dezeen.

      “My approach is to first understand how my clients live, what their inner dynamic is and what’s important to them on a daily basis,” he continued. “With that knowledge, we together developed a concept that naturally became pragmatic-poetic.”

      The architect also wanted TS-H_01 to emulate the easy-going internal layout of his own home in Werkbundsiedlung Neubühl, a housing complex in Zurich that was built by a collective of Swiss architects between 1930-32.
      “Spaces in Werkbundsiedlung Neubühl are not big but they are shaped in such a way that you never feel limited; it was built 90 years ago and I tried to translate this quality into our time.”

      The children’s sleeping quarters have been allocated to the home’s lower-ground floor.
      Strala specifically wanted to contradict the arrangement of a typical family home, which he thinks are too-often organised in a way where “youngsters are either protected, guarded or spied on by their parents”.

      Each bedroom has two doors, one that grants access to the garden and another that leads to the children’s private lounge area.
      “Whether a ‘good child’ or a pubescent teenager, the child decides day after day for itself how strong a connection it wants to form with its family, its siblings or the outside world,” explained Strala.

      Family members can unite on the ground floor of TS-H_01, which accommodates the communal living spaces. This includes a sizeable sitting room fronted by sliding glazed panels that open onto an outdoor terrace.

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      At the centre of the adjacent kitchen is a chunky white prep counter, while down the side of the room is a sequence of full-height storage cupboards with circular timber-edged handles.
      Two of the cupboards can be pushed back to reveal a hidden doorway to the home’s indoor garage.

      The parents have complete free rein over the attic, which is where their bedroom suite is located.
      “It’s similar to a single loft space,” said Strala. “Even if you are a caring father or mother, you remain a human being with a life of your own.”

      The interior has been minimally finished throughout with raw plaster walls and pale timber floorboards.
      Splashes of colour are offered in the bathroom facilities, where glazed, midnight-blue tiles clad the shower cubicle and window ledge.

      Other pared-back properties in Switzerland include Haus Meister by HDPF, which boasts bare concrete surfaces, and Montebar Villa by JM Architecture, which is exclusively covered in dark grey tiles to resemble “a stone in the landscape”.

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      Casa Atibaia designed to be “ideal modernist jungle home”

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      Creatives Charlotte Taylor and Nicholas Préaud took cues from the modernist architecture of Lina Bo Bardi to dream up these renderings of Casa Atibaia, an imaginary home that hides in a São Paulo forest.In a series of ultra-realistic renderings, the pair have envisioned Casa Atibaia to be nestled amongst the forested banks of the Atibaia river in São Paulo.
      This is the first collaborative project between Préaud, who is co-founder of 3D visualisation practice Ni.acki, and Taylor, who runs Maison de Sable, a studio that works with a range of visual artists to create fictional spaces.

      The imaginary home was informed by Casa de Vidro, or Glass House, which Italian-born Brazilian architect Lina Bo Bardi designed in 1951 for herself and her husband, writer and curator Pietro Maria Bardi.

      Comprising a concrete and glass volume supported by slim pilotis, the house is considered a significant example of Brazilian modernism – an architectural movement that both Taylor and Préaud have come to admire during their careers.

      “Lina Bo Bari has been a huge inspiration for the most part of my career,” Taylor told Dezeen.
      “Discovering Nicholas had an equal passion and excitement towards Brazilian modernism was a perfect match, something we had to explore.”
      “Having lived and studied architecture in Brazil, I was overwhelmed by the presence and national pride around modernist jewels such as Casa de Vidro or Casa das Canoas by Oscar Niemeyer,” continued Préaud.
      “These homes have become landmarks not only for their style and modern construction methods at the time, but also because of the simplicity of the lifestyle they implemented.”

      Like Bo Bardi’s Casa de Vidro, the imaginary Casa Atibaia features a white-concrete framework and expansive glass windows.
      However, instead of pilotis, this house would instead be elevated by huge jagged boulders that jut out from the terrain below.

      Taylor and Préaud’s creation would also be much more sinuous in shape – the river-facing elevation of winding inwards to form a courtyard around a cluster of existing palm trees.
      This courtyard would help loosely separate the private and communal quarters of the home.
      “Lina Bo Bardi’s Casa de Vidro was an inspiration mostly in terms of this ethereal feeling of a delicately suspended home… gentle curves, extended raw concrete slabs and a primal relationship with the elements are our tribute to Brazilian modernism,” the pair explained.

      Some of the boulders propping up the home would pierce through the interior and be adapted into functional elements like bookcases, a bed headboard, or craggy plinths for displaying earth-tone vases.

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      In the living room, a curving cream-coloured sofa is accompanied by a couple of sloping armchairs and a floor lamp with a concertina-fold shade.
      Wooden high-back chairs surround the stone breakfast island in the adjacent kitchen.

      The home would otherwise be dressed with a blend of contemporary and antique decorative pieces, ideally from the likes of French designers like Charlotte Perriand and Pierre Chapo.
      “It would definitely be a dream home for us in another life,” added Taylor and Préaud.

      “Casa Atibaia is a design experiment in which we combined both our impressions and aspirations of the ideal modernist jungle home,” the pair continued.
      “Through this experiment we sought to squeeze out the essence of what Brazilian modernism means to us, blurring the boundaries between inside and out while maintaining a cosy, homey feeling.”

      Charlotte Taylor was one of nine individuals to feature in Dezeen’s roundup of 3D designers, visualisers and image-makers.
      She said the recent rise of dreamy renderings coming from the likes of her and Préaud may be down to the fact that, in light of the global coronavirus lockdowns, the appetite for escapism is “at an all-time high”.
      Earlier this year, in response to the pandemic, Child Studio designed Casa Plenaire – a fictitious seaside villa where those stuck at home could imagine having the “perfect holiday”.

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      YSG carries out tactile overhaul of Budge Over Dover house in Sydney

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      Terracotta brick, aged brass, and aubergine-hued plaster are just some of the materials that interior design studio YSG has included in its revamp of this house in Sydney.The house – nicknamed Budge Over Dover – is located in Dover Heights, a coastal suburb that lies to the east of Sydney.
      Despite the home’s spacious 825-square-metre floor plan, it previously played host to a rabbit-warren of light-starved rooms and poky corridors.

      Local studio YSG was brought on board to create a more “fluid” sense of space across the ground floor and improve the home’s visual connection to its sizeable garden.

      YSG began by knocking down a majority of existing partition walls to form a sweeping living and dining space.

      Surfaces throughout have been loosely rendered with aubergine or toffee-hued Marmorino plaster, forming a discrete backdrop to the studio’s “interplay of polished and raw finishes”.
      “Settings are embellished by tonal and tactile variations that delineate the neutral zones via swathes of colour and surface patinas,” explained the studio.

      At its rear lies a kitchen that boasts black-stained timber cabinetry. It’s anchored by a chunky prep counter, the base of which is crafted from aged brass while its countertop is made from veiny Black Panther marble.
      In front of the countertop is a row of stools upholstered in fluffy cream wool, and an oversized white lantern dangles overhead.
      “Wall sconces and lamps were selected to consciously pool light in areas and brushed velvet tonal depths as opposed to installing integrated ceiling lights,” added the studio.

      The kitchen directly faces onto a lounge area that has a large fawn-coloured sectional sofa dressed with mismatch patterned cushions.
      A breakfast nook has also been created in the corner, with a seating banquette made bespoke to curve in line with the wall.
      Inhabitants can choose to dine here or at the more formal dining table that’s surrounded by tubular-framed chairs with tan leather seats.

      This entire living space has been elevated to sit on an expansive platform covered with handmade terracotta tiles, bringing it in line with the garden patio.
      YSG purposefully used the same tiles to clad the floor of the patio in attempt to “draw the outside in”.

      The project also saw the studio cut back the size of the pool, which used to butt up against the back door, making space for more outdoor furnishings.

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      Beyond the brick-lined portion of the ground floor is an additional seating area that features the home’s original travertine flooring. Here, a beige sofa perches on a forest-green velvet rug, along with an angular maroon armchair.
      A complementary green-tone painting has also been mounted on the breast of the huge fireplace, which curves out from the wall.

      Upstairs, the studio has continued the rich palette but with “more saturated intensity”.
      The master bedroom has been painted a dark, mossy green shade to draw attention to the impressive ocean views seen from the windows.

      Another bedroom has dusky pink surfaces, brass light fixtures and an opulent natural-stone vanity table.
      Lighter tones are offered in one of the kid’s bedrooms, which has sky-blue walls and whimsical cloud-shaped lamps hanging from the ceiling.

      YSG was established at the beginning of 2020. Prior to this the studio’s founder, Yasmine Saleh Ghoniem, led interior design studio Amber Road alongside her sister, landscape architect Katy Svalbe.
      Previous projects by Amber Road – which has now closed for business – include Polychrome House, a colourful 1960s-era property, and the dark-hued 1906 Apartment – which is owned by the same family who reside in Budge Over Dover.
      Photography is by Prue Ruscoe.

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      Think Architecture completes Zurich home with lake and vineyard views

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      Swiss practice Think Architecture has created House at a Vineyard, which includes a veranda and sunken courtyard that have vistas across the waters of Lake Zurich.The house is situated in a wildflower-filled meadow that lies beyond a small vineyard near Lake Zurich.
      It was created by Think Architecture for a young family of four who, after showing the practice a few inspirational images from Pinterest, said their key request was that their home was modern and had a simple, symmetrical layout.

      “Though symmetrical villas have long dominated architectural history, in recent decades they have tended to appear only as neoclassical imitations,” said the practice.

      “House at a Vineyard aims to prove that this specific spatial arrangement still has its place and can be translated into a contemporary design.”

      The house comprises a stacked pair of rectilinear volumes, both of which are punctuated with tall recessed windows that offer views of the surrounding landscape.
      A three-metre-wide veranda runs the entire length of the lower volume of the house that boasts herringbone-pattern decked flooring.

      At its centre is a small, sunken courtyard centred by a single tree, which the practice has specifically placed to fall in line with the sequence of reception rooms indoors.
      Cushioned seating runs around the perimeter of the courtyard, allowing the family to relax there during the warm summer months while overlooking the waters of the lake.

      To complement the exterior of the house, which is rendered with pale, off-white plaster, surfaces of the internal living spaces have been washed with lime. Herringbone oak flooring also runs throughout, mirroring the decking on the veranda.

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      Think Architecture worked alongside Atelier Zurich to develop the aesthetic of the home’s interiors, which have been finished with a few standout decorative elements.

      In the kitchen, the breakfast island is topped with a slab of murky-green marble, while the dining room has a long blood-red table surrounded by cane-back chairs.
      This room is flanked by staircases that lead to the first floor, where blue-grey joinery and wall panelling has been introduced. Several contemporary artworks have also been mounted on the walls.

      Think Architecture was established in 2008 and is co-led by Ralph Brogle and Marco Zbinden.
      This isn’t the only residential project that the practice has completed in its home city of Zurich – last year it created House in a Park, which comprises a series of stone and plaster-lined volumes.
      Photography is by Simone Bossi.

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      KC Design Studio creates moody grey living spaces in basement of Taipei apartment

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      The neglected basement of this apartment in Taipei has been overhauled by KC Design Studio to feature a series of greyscale rooms and an indoor courtyard.The apartment, named House H, is set within a residential block in Taipei’s Shilin district and is occupied by a family of four.
      With the children growing up, the family were starting to feel increasingly constricted in their ground floor apartment, so they approached KC Design Studio to transform the disused basement below into additional living quarters.

      The basement presented some significant problems – as the apartment block is sandwiched between two buildings, it would only be possible for the basement to receive natural light from either the front or the back of the plan.

      As the basement had only a few ventilators, there was also poor air circulation.

      To combat this, the studio decided to carve several openings into the basement’s ceiling. One large rectangular opening towards the front of the basement allows sunlight to stream down from the windows on the ground-floor facade.
      This opening also accommodates a staircase that connects the apartment’s two floors.

      An L-shaped opening has then been made in the ceiling at the rear of the basement, topped with gridded metal sheeting so that air can circulate from the ground floor above. The area directly beneath the opening has been fronted with glass to form an indoor courtyard.
      Inside, it’s filled with an array of leafy green plants and a small chinaberry tree.

      The thick foliage acts as a natural privacy screen between the daughter and the son’s bedrooms, which have been relocated to the basement.
      “In the night, the light and shadow of the leaves become the leading role in the space,” explained the studio.

      Elsewhere at basement level is the apartment’s kitchen, living area, laundry room and additional wash facilities.
      The ground floor now largely acts as a master bedroom suite for the parents, complete with its own walk-in-wardrobe. There is also a prayer room for the family at this level.

      A moody colour palette has been applied throughout the home. Walls have been loosely rendered with grey plaster and a majority of the floor has been poured over with concrete.
      Almost all of the lighting fixtures are black, apart from a row of metal pendant lamps that dangle above the dining table. Slate-coloured cabinetry features in the kitchen behind.

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      “We selected different materials but kept them as monochrome as possible to keep it simple and unadorned – in this case, the main thing to perform is light,” the studio told Dezeen.

      KC Design Studio was established in 2012 and is based in Taipei’s Songshan district.
      House H’s dark interiors are a far cry from the studio’s recent whimsical project, Cat’s Pink House – a bubblegum-pink holiday home that includes ladders and a carousel-shaped climbing frame for the owner’s feline companions.
      Photography is by Hey! Cheese.
      Design: KC Design StudioLead designer: Chun-ta, Tsao

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