Few property owners would want a designer to cut corners while refurbishing their flat, but for one Mid-Levels apartment the results are perfect.
When semi-retired businesswoman Wendy Cheung decided to renovate her pied-a-terre in Mid-Levels, she had a clean, bright and simple apartment in mind. This vision was a categorical break from her cluttered home in Kowloon, which is filled with an array of traditional - and bulky - Chinese furniture.
Having hired designers on previous occasions, Cheung was familiar with the ups and downs of the process. Nor was she short of advice because her brother-in-law, who lives in the United States, works in the design field. Nonetheless, it was a relief when an expert was recommended. Cheung was referred to architectural design firm Building Design Studio (tel: 2581 9909) through a friend and warmed quickly to architect and co-director Sean Niem, who made her feel confident in his abilities. 'That encouraged me to give him a freer hand with the design,' she admits.
Consequently, Niem delivered an adventurously youthful and relaxed design. 'We spent the first few meetings just building a relationship,' says Niem, 'but it's by chance that the result is modern - it wasn't what Mrs Cheung expressed [a desire for].'
With an underlying brief in mind, Niem took a softly interventionist approach, rounding corners to create what he describes as an 'edgeless' backdrop. 'Instead of intersecting planes we smoothed off and rounded surfaces so that light could flow through the space.'
He discovered that the initial floor plan featured some curving walls, so it seemed logical to take this concept further. As a result, the new curvilinear forms appear to be derived from the original structure.