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Thinking outside the box for storage solutions

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The problem of storage is something of an absurdity in Hong Kong. Despite a common lack of storage, shopping remains a prime pastime for many here. Something has to give.

But apartments won't suddenly double in size and the city's passion for fashion doesn't show any signs of abating. Which is why many rely on interior designers for solutions.

It's a challenge that local architecture firm KplusK embraces. The firm, headed by twins Paul and Johnny Kember, recently completed an overhaul of the Ovolo hotel on Queen's Road Central. Transforming every floor of the former serviced-apartment block into an affordable business hotel in the heart of the city required careful space considerations. On each floor, two 473 sq ft flats were subdivided into three bedrooms plus a shared lobby. The building now has 50 rooms in two sizes: 190 sq ft and 150 sq ft.

'We had to think laterally to make the design work,' says Paul Kember, chief designer on the project. 'The design team had to devise unique solutions to meet the storage requirements of the hotel's clients within the new, confined space.'

Among the features is a pull-down hanging rail that is stowed overhead, out of sight. 'We knew that we didn't have the space to install any cabinetry so we began to explore more vertical storage solutions,' says Kember. 'Thankfully the space has high ceilings so we focused on different ways to exploit that space. It's the kind of area most people overlook when they're trying to find more storage because, at first, it seems impractical to keep things out of arm's reach.'

Such solutions are not new. More power-driven examples can rotate clothes within a wardrobe, or raise and lower rails automatically. But these, Kember says, are prone to malfunction and not in keeping with the rest of the hotel's robust design.

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