In the heart of Central, clever architectural gymnastics turned a flat with an awkward floor plan and few windows into a light, spacious retreat from the busy city.
In the search for a new home, it often takes one unique feature to make or break it. In the case of Tom Hall and Chai Santos-Hall, it is the stunning frosted-glass skylight in their apartment in Central.
Fortunately, they found the right architect to accentuate its effect. Hall was familiar with the work of K plus K (tel: 2541 6828), having asked the practice to design his offices and a series of villas in Bali, Indonesia. He felt comfortable entrusting the apartment to the firm's partners, twins Johnny and Paul Kember. They set about it in their usual manner - gutting the interior and starting again.
Despite the generous 1,000-square-foot space, Hall had some tough requirements in terms of what had to be shoehorned in. He and his wife wanted open-plan living but they also wanted a guestroom and guest bathroom. 'We had to do some serious reconstruction to try to open the apartment up and it was a bit of a challenge to get the guest suite in without it taking a chunk out of the main living space,' says Paul.
Who needs a view when the sky is one's ceiling? The pyramidal light-well creates a natural heart to the apartment. 'It's the central space, not only in terms of living and socialising, but it's the main natural light source for the whole apartment,' says Paul. Previously, walls enclosed the skylight, but these were removed to create a sense of space and visual continuity.
An open kitchen is de rigueur, but when there's heavy-duty cooking in progress glass doors can be rolled out to trap the steamy smells. The same applies to the bedroom on the opposite side of the dining room, which has an acoustically sealed glass wall and door to mute sounds from the living area.