How a Hong Kong apartment makes the most of its natural light and stunning views
- Floor-to-ceiling windows allow this Pok Fu Lam family home to make the most of the spectacular scenery beyond
- Interior design studio hoo infused the flat with a mid-century modern vibe and even a restaurant-style leather booth
Sky high in Pok Fu Lam, with stunning views over the East Lamma Channel and Sunset Peak, on Lantau Island, this 2,300 sq ft flat simply glows on sunny afternoons. As the light shifts from silver to gold, it floods into the living room and main suite through floor-to-ceiling windows.
“The light here is just crazy!” says interior designer Yu-chang Chen, whose company, hoo, was charged with redesigning the four-bedroom flat for a family of four (parents Norman and Christine, plus 14-year-old Isabel and 10-year-old Jayden).
Making the most of the light led to one of the defining characteristics of the new layout, which Chen put in the hands of lead designer Natalie Tsoi Kit-wing. She merged two bedrooms to create an extra-large main suite and replaced the solid wall to the en suite bathroom with glass to allow the light to pass unfettered throughout the space. Part of what had been the second bedroom is now a walk-in dressing room; and a long strip of space was reclaimed from the main suite to create a wall of floor-to-ceiling cupboards in the hallway behind.
“The clients were hesitant about the glass bathroom wall, but the view and the light are just so crazy and we didn’t want to lose that,” Chen says. “For privacy, behind the glass wall we installed electronic roller blinds, which can be lowered at the push of a button.”
The family left most of the design choices to the professionals, who decided to use elements of mid-century modern style. “We wanted to mix and match materials – marble, brass, dark wood veneer and darker flooring. Nothing too light or Scandinavian,” Chen says.
