Tag: villa

Space To Grow: While not grand in dimensions, this Kowloon apartment lacks nothing in design elegance or desirability

When it comes to living in Hong Kong, space is always at a premium. With soaring property prices, more and more people are looking for smaller, more efficient living spaces that can cater to their family’s growing needs. Home to a couple and their newborn baby, this King’s Park Villa apartment in Ho Man Tin fits the bill by utilising its maximum capacity. It has been carefully designed as an ideal environment for a small family and their ever-changing lifestyle.

The interior experts at Taste Design were entrusted with realising the owners’ dream home and so began a six-month labour of love. Comfort and utility of space were the main focus when reconfiguring the layout. The mood has been kept natural and elegant, encompassing all the necessities while avoiding any kind of visual clutter. Thus, the apartment, which spans 1,258 square feet over one floor, can adapt promptly to the changing dynamics of a new family.

Upon entering the flat, a warm-themed, spacious living room bedecked in neutral tones welcomes you through a retractable glass partition between the foyer and the lounge. A long, slim cabinet of dark wood is placed beside the main door, matching its colour and allowing handy placement of keys and other essentials for expeditions outside.

Two large floor-to-ceiling windows brighten the living-cum-dining area. One of these is curved, which presented a major design challenge, but was successfully overcome by a seamless blending of the rounded area into the uniform straight lines of today’s residential architecture. The window curvature serves as an attractive backdrop for two bright blue contemporary armchairs placed at right angles to the far end of a comfy grey sofa. Light-hued floor-to-ceiling curtains match the room’s overall colour palette and cover the window frames to give a sense of extra volume to the walls.

The sitting area is maximised with a tidy arrangement of loose furniture including the square armchairs, sofa, two round textured poufs and a central coffee table of inter-layered circles. Soft lighting and carefully curated décor create an ambience of calm and tranquility.

A gleaming round dining table topped by a lazy Susan and surrounded by curved upholstered dining chairs is placed in front of the other wide window, allowing plenty of light while eating. The use of metal and marble throughout the space not only adds to the aesthetics but also hints at the practicality and longevity of the owners’ choices. A wooden feature wall behind the dining area breaks the visual monotony; shelves on each side flank a concealed storage cupboard and display artistic and whimsical collectibles, many with an animal theme.

A collage of striking photographs adds contrast and interest on the adjacent wall, while an eye-catching chandelier constructed from gold and silver shards hangs overhead, adding to the warm glow of this cosy spot for family meals. Beside the main living space is an enclosed kitchen, where wooden cabinets and marble tiles on the walls and floor echo the general preference for natural materials. There is ample space for cooking, laundry and storage, while a bedroom and bathroom off the kitchen provide privacy for the family’s helper.

A wide marble hallway leads past another glass partition to the rest of the home. On one side is a study lined with shelves of books and framed photographs. A pair of desks affords ample space for the couple to sit and work quietly side by side. Since it faces the guest bathroom across the hall, the study can be turned into a convenient guest room when needed.

Next comes the nursery with lively pastel wallpaper and a cot surrounded by baby toys for a joyful vibe. Once again, discreet inbuilt storage has been designed to enhance the utility of the room and keep it clutter-free.

The door to the master suite is right next to the nursery for quick access when the baby wakes up at night. Here, a simple décor enhances the space, with storage neatly offered within a low white cabinet underneath the TV wall facing the bed. A feature wall of contrasting dark wood is unconventionally an extension of the dressing table rather than behind the headboard of the bed. The entrance to the walk-in closet also blends into the dark panelling, while the closet itself is an extension of the bathroom wall.

The ensuite bathroom is rather irregular in shape, but the designer has masterfully utilised this unique triangular layout by making the smaller end into a walk-in shower. It is a compact, bright space with a pale wood floor and off- white textured walls that almost have an outdoor bathing feel, reminiscent of villa accommodation in Bali.

Size does matter increasingly in Hong Kong living, but with clever design and a creative meld of elegance and practicality, even the less generous proportions of newer residential buildings can be transformed into ideal and adaptable homes for growing families.

Photos: Taste Interior Design Ltd.

This villa on Mount Davis is an inspirational take on green architecture

The dawn of the Digital Age saw humankind embrace all things electronic. Engineers have developed smart phones, smart cars, smart watches and wearable tech. But far more elusive and ambitious is the greater project of the smart house.

We first encountered “Mount Davis Villa” when visiting the International Design Furniture Fair that ran last August at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre. It was part of a touring exposition entitled Reading Single Family House, a showcase of inventive homes in Greater China curated by Index Architecture founder Anderson Lee.

The project caught our attention as a rare subject belonging to a dying breed of single-family homes in Hong Kong. Upon closer inspection, the mystery project on Pok Fu Lam’s mountainside revealed more and more ingenious features that would delight the cultivated mind: from solar design principles and wind generators to hydro-seed technology for wall landscaping.

A round ‘Heaven’s Gate’ opening allows views into the house, and beyond, over a Jacuzzi and lap pool that protrudes toward infinity

Clearly no funds were spared in the fulfilment of the home-owner’s vision. The man is described as a “naturalist and avid bird watcher involved with the World Wildlife Fund.” Further digging led us to Markus Jebsen, executive chairman of MF Jebsen Group and a direct descendant of Jacob Jebsen – founder of its colonial-era parent company.  The Danish businessman belongs to a 120-year-old trading family whose assets include one of the world’s largest Porsche dealerships and Blue Girl, the city’s best-selling brew.

“The owner insisted on environmental friendliness and as much self-sufficiency as possible,” said architect and interior designer Santa Raymond, who reviewed the project. “Materials and construction methods aimed to be [as] sustainable as possible, with – for instance – rubble from demolition being used to level the site. Wind turbines were considered but, apart from planning issues, the lack of access to a local grid into which to feed excess power removed this as a practical option.”

The three-storey house sits on the southern slope of Mount Davis with broad views over the Lamma Channel. Formerly occupying this 600-square-metre site was a one-storey European house with a swimming pool belonging to a relative. It was demolished to make way for the current building, which is sandwiched between Mount Davis Road from the top and Victoria Road below.

Tree planting was encouraged to create shade, reduce temperatures, and attract birdlife.

Award-winning architecture and urban design firm Farrells was chosen to turn this vision of an eco-friendly family home into reality. Designers were initially set back by the long and narrow site; regulations limited interior space to just 420-square-metres across three floors. In response to the rectangular constraints, Farrells designed a long building – a concept partially inspired by the Malaysian longhouse. The form ultimately allowed wide sea views from most rooms, promoted cross ventilation and provided an acoustic shield.

To the north, a large vertical stone façade anchors the house to the ground and shelters the dwelling from the road. Clad in split face stone, the wall is reminiscent of Mount Davis itself. The stainless steel roof, inclined at 30 degrees, also echoes the slope of the hill. 

On the ground floor, inhabitants congregate in the double-height family room, which has direct access to the external garden terrace and children’s swimming pool. Guest bedrooms are located here as well, while the family’s bedrooms are on the second floor.

The first level is comprised of the kitchen, main living room and dining space. A large opening in the stone feature wall makes up the main entrance, accessed from the outside by a cantilevered staircase. A spiritual rejuvenation area – designed to ‘let the dragon through’ – includes both a gymnasium and a projecting infinity lap-pool.

The 2m x 12.5m infinity lap pool overlooking Lamma Channel

For all its aesthetic appeal, the villa was fundamentally designed to utilise the latest environmentally friendly technologies. Double glazed windows, large mass walls, and an insulated roof reduce the house’s cooling load. North-facing operable skylights also facilitate a stack effect for natural cooling in summer months.

The roof’s aforementioned solar collectors provide hot water that powers the water-fired absorption chiller, which provides air-conditioning. In addition, a gray water system was incorporated to collect rainwater from the large roof and garden where it is stored in a tank and used for bathroom flushing and garden irrigation.

“Young architects can’t work on anything but boxes nowadays,” says Lee, who featured the 2005 villa in his exhibition. He chose the Jebsen home as one of the few Hong Kong residences that can be proudly presented as a triumph in holistic, ‘life-cycle approach’ design.

Raymond concurs: “The house is impressive at every level. It is a highly sophisticated solution on a demanding site that works as a family house, as a part of its location and as an example of innovative thinking. Its aesthetic defies categorisation, but communicates that it is an imaginative solution to a specific location and situation.”

American naturalist Edward Osborne Wilson once said, “Nature holds the key to our aesthetic, intellectual, cognitive and even spiritual satisfaction.” For all of mankind’s advances in building and composition, it looks as if we remain destined to return to the work of the greatest designer and architect of our smart planet: Mother Earth.

 

This article originally appears as “The Smart House” by Julienne C. Raboca on Gafencu Magazine’s March 2018 print edition. Photos are courtesy of Farrells and Carsten Schael.