While Scandinavian-style interiors are not uncommon in Hong Kong, few homeowners have gone as far as a couple in Tsuen Wan who incorporated a sauna in their 1,200 sq ft (111 square metre), two-bedroom duplex when they renovated it last year. The ultimate in Nordic lifestyle experiences, the Swedish-built hot room, installed between two bathrooms on the upper floor, characterises the qualities the pair wanted in a home, namely a quiet dwelling with long-term health benefits, where they could relax. Naturally, pandering to the two British shorthair cats that share their lives was part of the plan. Buying the property months before they relocated from Shanghai gave the couple and their Hong Kong-based designers, Building Narrative, time – and space – to execute their vision. The pair appointed the interdisciplinary architecture and design firm on the recommendation of Wool, a furniture store specialising in Scandinavian design that helped source many of the items on each of the 600 sq ft levels. Japanese minimalism transforms a Hong Kong village house into a dream home “It’s an interesting site, because it’s in a tower,” says Jeffrey Cheng, founder and director of Building Narrative. “They’re on the ground floor, with a private garden, but they also have a second floor with an aspect of a mature park – a tree canopy and longer view.” To make the most of the vistas, Building Narrative aligned the central living area and integrated dining cove on the lower level with an outdoor reflecting pool, while the water feature, marble fountain and frangipani tree were raised to be visible from all parts of the living room. Built-in benches along the wide windows and rows of planting obscure the ground plane, a common practice to increase the sense of depth in classic Chinese gardens. Green, sustainable apartment makeover quietly celebrates Hong Kong Also considered were views from the upper floor, where the two bedrooms can be found on opposite ends: in the middle, drawing the outdoors in through reflection, is a mirrored yoga room, where the sauna is also situated and the most extensive internal construction work took place. (The existing staircase was kept as it was but enclosed on the ground level to shield it from the dining nook.) “We took out some walls to open up the yoga room, as it doubles as a kind of stair landing on the upper floor,” says Cheng. “That was important to bring light into the stairway and air into the house, as yoga is a daily practice for the owners.” It’s also in this room that the cats have space to play. Building Narrative designed an ingenious floor-to-ceiling oak shelving unit on one wall, with feline-friendly arches allowing access to 40 per cent of the cubbyholes. Little reconstruction was required elsewhere, although a former helper’s room beside the kitchen was converted into a cellar to house the couple’s extensive baijiu collection. Much time and effort, however, went into the home’s finishes and furnishings, which highlight the owners’ love of mid-century modern design. On the ground floor, for example, Marcel Breuer and Pierre Jeanneret dining chairs were the “launching point” for the colour palette and texture and material detailing. The webbing of the Jeanneret chair then gave expression to the rattan in the bedrooms. How a Hong Kong mansion was restored to glory as an art space “They had very particular tastes in that they knew they liked this kind of Scandinavian sensibility,” says Cheng. “Those tastes were consistent, so they really set the direction.” Apart from rattan, the rich, natural, and textured qualities of oak, teak, leather and washi paper influence the tone of their surroundings. And dolomite plaster mixed with recycled volcanic ash provides depth to the walls and ceilings. “We’re architecture trained,” says Cheng, “and we can find ourselves a little bit limited in terms of what we can do. But material is the one place where we have control and that’s where we try to push ourselves.” Fortunately, they had their clients’ full trust to create a cogent scheme. “They gave us a lot of design freedom, which was a lovely experience,” says Cheng. “We had regular feedback from them, of course, but they really allowed us to just build this very coherent set of spaces, furnishings and materials.” Dining room Highlighting the owners’ love of mid-century modern design, the minimalist Snaregade oval table, by Menu, is offset by three classics of the genre: the armless Cesca chair, designed by Marcel Breuer for Knoll; the 055 Capitol Complex Chair, by Pierre Jeanneret for Cassina; and Isamu Noguchi’s Akari 21A washi paper pendant light. All were procured for the duplex by Wool (woolstudio.co). The custom banquette was installed by the general contractor, Alco Engineering (tel: 2668 4488), as were the ash wood wall feature and the ash herringbone flooring seen throughout the home. Living room Sitting atop a solid ash, slab-top bench seat, designed by Building Narrative (buildingnarrative.com) and made by Hardwood Hong Kong (hardwoodhk.com), the contemplative cat takes advantage of the garden views this room was intended to showcase. Re-orienting the room’s original layout, the custom kiln-dried pine log coffee table, also built by Hardwood Hong Kong, sits in what was once the dining area. It is surrounded by Menu’s Offset sofa in beige Kvadrat fabric; a 1954 Serge Mouille wall lamp; and a Santa & Cole Cesta table lamp, all supplied by Wool. Garden The focus of the tranquil 500 sq ft garden is the cast-in-place concrete reflecting pool and Bardiglio marble fountain, designed by Building Narrative and built by Alco Engineering. Breeze block screens on either side of the pool create interest and reduce visual sight lines of the doorway to the park beyond, and an external air conditioner. The sawtooth staggering is cleverly stabilised by a concealed metal frame inserted between the blocks. The fence is cement board over an existing metal structure, finished with an acrylic paint textured with natural granite, supplied and applied by SKK (skk.com.sg). The cement-finish wall sconce was from Bentu (bentudesign.com/319). The semi-mature frangipani tree and other tropical greenery softening the garden was planted by Blakedown (tel: 2677 1993). Sauna Outfitted in an existing bathroom space and opening directly on to the yoga room, all components of the Tylo Cedar wood sauna, down to the bucket, were custom made in Sweden and imported by the Hong Kong distributor KS Aqua Engineering (tel: 2899 2278). Reading corner A reading area in the living room is furnished with an Eames chair and ottoman that were part of the clients’ collection. The ash-wood shelves were designed by Building Narrative and made by Hardwood Hong Kong, and the Menu JWDA floor lamp in travertine was from Wool. Main bedroom Complementing the custom-made furniture in the living area, the solid wood ash bed frame and side table were designed by Building Narrative and built by Hardwood Hong Kong. In the bedhead and the matching wardrobe doors (not shown), the octagonal weave of the rattan gives a finer, more fabric-like finish, while the minimal edge detailing provides an intimate shadow light effect. Wool supplied the Menu Reverse table lamp, the Flensted Mobiles hanging art and the &Tradition Little Petra lounge chair in Moonlight sheepskin and walnut. Guest bedroom A work nook in the guest bedroom on the upper floor enjoys views of the reflecting pool and park beyond. The desk, complete with pen groove, was designed by Building Narrative and built by Hardwood Hong Kong. The Frama T-Lamp and Marcel Breuer Cesca Chair were sourced by Wool. Tried + tested Purrrpose built Mirroring the arch motif in the yoga room bookshelf is a small, arched opening Building Narrative cut out of a door, allowing the owners’ much-loved British shorthairs immediate, yet discreet, access to sleep and kitty-litter areas. This door off the ground floor dining and living area leads to a storage space and litter box, in the void below the stairs. The powder-coated white metal door handle also echoes the motif, signalling the cat zone within.