Clever use of glass throughout a once neglected 1,700 sq ft Mid-Levels apartment has transformed it into an open and airy family home. A two-year search for a new home ended when Ivy Lam found a top floor 1,700 sq ft unit with a rooftop in a 28-year-old low rise on leafy Conduit Road. It was run down and neglected but met two important criteria: it was big enough to accommodate her family of four and was in a convenient location, close to her office in Central. The apartment's shabbiness was a selling point. 'We wanted to scrap everything and redo it so it didn't really matter,' Lam says. For the renovation, she called on a childhood friend of her husband, architect Hubert Un (Hubert Un and Associates, tel: 8106 7722). 'In our first conversation, we told Hubert we wanted the apartment to be simple, white, practical and clean,' says Lam, who prioritised her family's needs. She wanted a study area that could be a working zone for her husband and a common area for all. She was keen to have a roof terrace where her two sons could play safely and wanted to be able to divide the apartment into public and private zones, so privacy would not be compromised when guests visited. Un has created an interior that is practical and user-friendly but also incorporates clever design ideas. The heart of the home is a large open-plan living and dining room. Before the renovation, the area looked cluttered and disjointed because there were several doorways along one wall that led to three separate bedrooms. 'We reduced the openings to make it more unified along this side,' says Un, who created one central access point leading to a study that can be opened to become part of the living-dining zone or sealed off by a series of sliding Chinese-screen panels. The study also leads to the two bedrooms. 'We used the screen panel wall to indicate that it leads to private areas,' says Un. The panels, which were sourced in Macau by Lam, were backed with glass and mounted into a sliding frame. The device is decorative and practical: when the doors are closed, they keep sound from the study but allow people to see in and out. 'It is a semi-private area; it still has the connection with the outside and offers a transition from public to semi-private and then to private,' says Un. On a less academic level, it means that Lam's husband can work in peace with the study doors closed but still see into the living room and maintain a connection with the rest of the family. With the luxury of one unit per floor in the building, Un was able to make maximum use of all areas of the apartment without compromising privacy. To increase the sense of light and space, he installed floor-to-ceiling windows in the living room and built two walls of chunky glass bricks, one adjacent to the entrance door, the other in the entrance lobby. To gain extra light in the master bathroom, Un installed a semi-open glass wall between the bedroom and bathroom - clear at the top and bottom but opaque in the middle. The interior design is simple: a basic palette of white walls and ceramic floors warmed by bleached oak-veneer cabinetry and subtle wallpaper. 'Ivy wanted something white but if it were all white it would be sterile,' says Un. 'So we proposed something a little warmer but still with lightness.' Lam used a pair of family heirloom antique chairs that were a wedding gift to her grandmother as the foundation upon which to build her furnishings scheme. They inspired her to frame a modern apartment with traditional touches. 'We wanted to mix something old with something new,' she says, and headed to Shenzhen to buy feature pieces such as a contemporary Chinese-style love seat and dining set, a curvaceous modern sofa and lighting fixtures. This is a home that is comfortable and practical for all the family yet exhibits design consistency. The owner and architect worked closely together and there was a lot of give and take. Little things such as Un offering advice on, and encouraging his client to embrace, new ideas helped create a result that has pleased them both. 1 In the living room, the white palette is enlivened by grey ceramic brickwork and sliding screen doors. Large floor-to-ceiling windows look out onto a tree-lined section of Conduit Road. The curved white Bullfrog sofa from Germany cost HK$37,000 from Decor Collection (11/F, Lee Theatre Plaza, 99 Percival Street, Causeway Bay, tel: 2808 0877); the striped scatter cushions are from Ikea (various locations; www.ikea.com.hk ). The teak wood reproduction panels were sourced by Ivy Lam in Macau and set into a sliding wooden frame with a clear glass backing for a total cost of HK$18,000. In front of the window is a camphor wood, Chinese-style, double-chair love seat (HK$3,000 from Jin Ying, Bao An North, Luohu District, Shenzhen, tel: 86 755 8213 3572). The white pots and their plants are from Brighten Floriculture (28 Flower Market Road, Mong Kok, tel: 2381 5330). 2 As part of his attempt to ensure maximum light throughout the flat, Hubert Un installed a slim wall of semi-transparent glass blocks adjacent to the entrance door. The blocks (200mm x 200mm x 100mm thick) were sourced on the mainland and cost HK$3,000 for labour and materials. Most tile shops in Wan Chai sell similar blocks. The reproduction side-table (HK$2,000) was bought in Macau. 3 The thermo-wood decking on the roof terrace is from Germany. Hop Sze Timber (421 Lockhart Road, Wan Chai, tel: 2833 6069) charged about HK$130,000 to cover the entire roof (raised deck and fencing). The sun loungers, umbrella and table and chair set are from Jin Ying. 4 Screen doors slide open to reveal a study area. The office chairs cost HK$3,000 for the set of three from Lamex (15/F, Island Place, 510 King's Road, North Point, tel: 2828 6000). The bleached oak veneer built-in desks and shelving units were designed by Hubert Un and Associates (4/F, 18 Stanley Street, Central, tel: 8106 7722; www.hubertun.com ). 5 Lam's son perches on the countertop of a kitchen enlivened by panels of back-painted green glass. The kitchen units were custom designed by Hubert Un and Associates. 6 In the master bedroom, a combination of opaque and clear glass was used to maintain privacy yet allow light to penetrate into the en suite bathroom. The bed, bedside cabinets and vanity unit were designed by Hubert Un and Associates using bleached oak veneer. On the bed is a brown scatter cushion from Ikea and a floral throw purchased in Thailand. Lam chose a vibrant blue linear Arte wallpaper called Hypos (HK$1,050 a roll from Tat Ming Wallpaper, 16/F, Kwan Chart Tower, 6 Tonnochy Road, Wan Chai, tel: 2893 2337). The oval make-up mirror is from PLC (212 Lockhart Road, tel: 2519 9601). 7 A similar glass brick wall to that used in the exterior hallway has been built in the entrance lobby to allow maximum light inside and hide ugly equipment such as the air-conditioning units mounted on the walls outside. Behind a pair of 1930s antique chairs and a side-table inherited from Lam's grandmother is a wall clad with slim grey ceramic tiles from Italy (HK$45 a square foot from FEI Concept, 177 Lockhart Road, tel: 2153 3288). The white ceramic floor tiles cost HK$50 a square foot from La Casa (175 Lockhart Road, tel: 2511 7880). The vase cost HK$200 from Brighten Floriculture. tried & tested mirror image Hubert Un unified the wall along one side of the living room by removing three doorways and replacing them with a central screen sliding panel that leads to the study and from there to bedrooms on either side. He installed a mirror panel instead of hiding the doorway completely. This device increases the sense of space, creating the optical illusion of there being another room of the same size beyond the living room. 'Now it seems as though you are looking into another space,' Un says. He used the same subtle-patterned wallpaper on either side of the mirror panel to create continuity. styling Esther van Wijck
