Long have we been focused with windows on computer screens. Now we attempt to nudge our attention back to the widescreen of the physical world.

Design is often about optimization. The client couple stays in this resale condo unit with their new-born child and helper, and optimizations are required from extension of kitchen counter space, maximizing of wardrobe volume, enlargement of master shower, to the juxtaposition of storage and guestroom functions onto the study room. Situated on the thirtieth floor with a large balcony, a series of calculated geometric interventions steer the spaces to appreciate the panorama.

The private lift door opens to an intimate lobby that offers a glimpse of the balcony behind the living and dining space. The left side of this corridor is furnished with full-height shoe and storage cabinets over one of two live-edge wood slabs upcycled from the owners’ prior console. The second slab wedges onto an L-shaped wall cabinet that turns 90-degree to an internal circulation spine. Being highly trafficable and unobstructed, this becomes the ideal axis to book-match the Gioia Extra white marble slabs that adorn the entire living and dining space.

This corridor leads to the kitchen on the left, which gets properly enlarged after the removal of one washroom, and connects also to the service entrance of the apartment. The master bedroom and study-cum-guestroom are on the right side of this corridor, with cabinetry finished in the same timber-grained laminate, expressed vertically and horizontally respectively.

From the off-centred private lift lobby, one transits to an articulated axial corridor, and perceives, perhaps never before, the pure symmetry of the main space of the apartment, framed by an expansive portal. The experience of this widescreen is not merely visual, but immersive as well.

Team:

Interior Designers: Metre Architects

Photographer: Form Practice