IN HONG KONG'S highly competitive property market, developers will go to great lengths to attract potential customers. One way to whet appetites is to present fully furnished flats that portray a certain lifestyle. Enter the show home.
Often the first point of contact for house hunters looking at a new development, show homes can be friendly and functional or disarmingly extravagant.
'When I do a show flat it's almost like an art installation,' says Andre Fu, interior architect at AFSO. 'It's a visual journey that portrays a lifestyle a particular development is offering.'
Fu recently completed two themed show homes for Sun Hung Kai's Harbour Green, above Olympic MTR station. Costing more than $40 million to stage, the 1,800- and 2,200sqft flats employ rich textures to achieve the 'CEO living' concept of the development.
The first flat is based on the concept of rose gold and the other is inspired by French glassmaker Lalique. 'We used the colour of rose gold to inform the look of the flat,' says Fu. 'We installed a French copper bath tub and other pieces that projected the feel we were after.'
The second flat, meanwhile, marries two brands. 'We brought in pieces from Paris, such as crystal chandeliers and vases with the idea that people would associate the fine craftsmanship of Lalique with a home in Harbour Green,' he says.