For MTV's Charles Chau, a hectic business-travel schedule dictated the renovation of his Kowloon Tong home. Like the best modern hotel guestrooms, it is cool, convenient and stylish, and without a wasted corner.
Black does not often feature strongly on the colour palette of Hong Kong apartments. After all, neutral shades are supposed to increase the illusion of space. But for television executives Charles Chau and Rainbow Fong, it was the obvious choice for their new, 1,600-square-foot home in Kowloon Tong. The colour scheme starts at the electronic glass entrance door, which is back-painted in black. It slides back with a shoom and the home stretches before you, all monochrome walls and shag-pile rugs - Austin Powers would love it. The apartment is 40 years old and has a simple floor plan: a long rectangle roughly divided into thirds. Each space has a different function and colour scheme, beginning with black for the kitchen and library/study, fading to grey in the living and dining area, and ending in the white, self-contained bedroom suite.
'There's a kind of charm with older buildings that no new buildings can offer,' Chau says. The pair did not target this particular Kowloon Tong neighbourhood in their search for a home, although its low-rise, leafy surroundings and views of Hong Kong Island make the apartment a rare gem. 'What we really needed was a simple, modern, stylish apartment where we could comfortably retire after hectic business travelling,' Chau says.
Chau says he was drawn to the idea of hiring a firm that wasn't purely defined by residential projects. '[Lim's] portfolio is mainly commercial - hotels, restaurants, offices - and that's exactly what I wanted,' he says. 'I didn't want to work with a residential interior designer whose mindset is probably fixed.' Chau is by no means green to the process of creativity. The managing director of MTV Asia, he studied architecture, has dabbled in art direction and is an accomplished painter whose long-term goal is to be a full-time artist. Chau's only regret is the apartment isn't big enough to accommodate a studio.
The previous occupants had lived in the property for 35 years and had left it largely untouched. Structural walls meant the interior couldn't be opened out completely, and dictated the functional layout. As for the aesthetics, 'I told William I wanted it to look like a very modern hotel suite but with extended facilities,' Chau says. He gave Lim examples from the Hip Hotels book series, and Starck/Schraeger properties such as The Sanderson and St Martin's Lane in London.