Architect makes tiny Wan Chai walk-up flat a designer bolthole
Cameron Hestler looked to life on the seven seas for inspiration when he turned the property into a compact, efficiently furnished home - then went to town on its 600 sq ft terrace, writes Adele Brunner
If you think 365 square feet are too few to constitute a stylish home, read on. Architect Cameron Hestler has done the seemingly impossible and transformed a tiny walk-up in Wan Chai into a designer bolthole for two.
When Hestler initially viewed the apartment, which comes with a 600 sq ft wraparound terrace, it was worse than derelict. “Before” photos show a wreck of a space, lacking doors and windows, and with bare-concrete walls, rusty pipes, exposed wires, crumbling plasterwork and old strip lighting. After an illegal structure on the terrace had been knocked down, the rubble had been buried under a layer of concrete on the floor.
“It was odious,” says Canadian-born Hestler, who has lived in Hong Kong since 1996. “The original terrace wasn’t even enclosed. The previous owners had broken down the illegal dwelling and left just four pillars. On the upside, the apartment had already been gutted – it was open to the elements in some places – so we didn’t have to do much demolition.”
Hestler bought the apartment in 2008 and started renovating immediately with his regular contractor, Denny Ng. The biggest problem they encountered was the record-breaking rainfall that year.
“I don’t like rushing any project because I believe in doing things properly and not cutting corners,” says Hestler. “The waterproofing took ages to complete and we had problems with mainland suppliers because of all the extensive floods in China.
“My advice to anyone renovating is to expect it to take longer than the original timeline. A month or two is neither here nor there, especially if the work is done correctly.”