Given a virtual carte blanche in a renovation project, one architect was able to indulge his love of light and colour to create a practical family home.
It is an architect's dream to be handed a blank slate; an empty space in which the design possibilities are seemingly limitless. So Mike Atkin, of Head Architecture and Design (tel: 2869 5725), and colleague Katherine Ngan relished the task presented by a 1,700-square-foot Mid-Levels flat.
'It was such a joy to trash this place, reduce it to rubble and start again,' Atkin says.
The pair created a sun-drenched, fluid home that incorporates the requirements of owners Daniel and Mae Nash and their pre-teen daughter. 'The Nashes wanted a warm and bright home that was also colourful,' Atkin says, 'and we needed to be responsive to the directions of the fung shui master who analysed the space and developed a list of guidelines.'
With this brief, Atkin and Ngan set to work transforming this former three-bedroom, three-bathroom space into a home with two en-suite bedrooms and a large convertible music room for father-daughter jam sessions. The apartment's good fortune area, as discerned by the fung shui master, was a logical starting point for Atkin and Ngan. 'We created the entry way so everyone would have to pass by the lucky spot,' Atkin explains. 'The rest of the flat progressed from there.'
A curved built-in screen, which incorporates subtle cabinetry for shoe storage, guides visitors through