The joy of duplex
When the owners of a Mid-Levels apartment were presented with an opportunity they couldn't refuse, their creative juices began flowing
Sometimes opportunities fall into your lap. That's what Michelle and Charles Wan realised when a real-estate agent told them the apartment beneath theirs was for sale. Before considering turning their Mid-Levels home into a 6,000 sq ft duplex, the couple had thought about moving, but the appeal of staying put and doubling their living area proved irresistible.
Appointing architects to create a bigger home was simple; the couple turned again to Jason Caroline Design (JCD), which had renovated the single floor they moved into in 2003. Michelle Wan had found the company through the pages of Post Magazine.
Faced with so much extra space for the couple and their two sons, both of whom study abroad, the JCD design duo determined not only how to make the best use of the lower floor - after a fung shui master had determined the orientation of the rooms - but also what could remain untouched.
'I didn't want to change too many things upstairs,' says Wan, showing off her former bedroom, which her eldest son now uses when he is home, and the well-equipped kitchen in which she spends most afternoons cooking. She decided on a different look for the level below, though.
'This floor is white and silver,' says JCD's Caroline Ma, who works with her husband, Jason Yung. 'The floor above is black and gold.'
The original flat is as classical as the new space is modern but the duplex nevertheless feels one of a piece. Features linking the two levels include distinctive wallpaper, a curved black-and-white staircase, a commissioned piece of art behind the stairway and a three-metre-long chandelier of glass bubbles.