Iron Interior Space and Exhibition Design · 2023
Horace Suite Residential Apartment
- A' Design Award 2023 Iron Winner in Interior Space and Exhibition Design
- Awarded April 15, 2023
- CLIENT: Make It Works Ltd
- Estimated Number of Design Views: 9,884
- Verification code 46B09EA82D · Verify this award
About Horace Suite Residential Apartment
Horace suite demonstrated a transform of an old Hong Kong home to a modern living space. All partitioning was taken down and was reconstructed to fit re-arranged zones. The project was set to provide large, transformable space to suit different uses and occasions. The open kitchen was surrounded by grid windows, allowed sunlight to penetrate into the premise in all ways. Appliances and storages were concealed inside wall and cabinets for visual cleanness. Made use of white paint, maple wood and concrete plaster on large surfaces, the project promotes a balance between functions and comfort.
Press Kit
- Unique Properties
- The project introduced a complete shuffle of zoning comparing to common HK homes, with living area next to the entrance while kitchen and dining on the window sides. Without any corridor space, the area was designed in minimal style with lots of British windows surrounded to create a clean, bright spacious space. All storages and functional fixture were concealed inside walls to archive minimalism that generated larger room sizes and afford more functions than a 470 sq.ft. flat usually did.
- Dimensions & Packaging
- The flat is 470sq.ft. big, consist with
1 living room with working space & extra bedroom embedded, 1 open kitchen with dining bench,
1 bathroom with laundry, and
1 queen sized bedroom with full wall wardrobe and full wall open shelves
The kitchen is planed with full functions - built-in fridge, built-in dish washer, a large sink, built-in steam/microwave oven, and a 4 hobs electrical cooker. with sufficient space for group cooking and a large bench for gatherings. - Tags
- modern suite, sunlight, small space, transformer space, open kitchen, old flat revamp
- Production Technology
- The flat is designed to look minimal, introducing bright & comfort with Black, White, Oak & concrete.
The entire zoning was shuffled and all E&Ms were rearranged. Thus most of the equipment & duct were concealed, keeping the house clean and tidy.
White Cabinet & concrete wall provided contrast to the space while visually connecting living & dining space.
The open kitchen was wrapped by windows to max. sunlight intake.
The Marble tabletop embodies the space texture to create a high-end feeling. - Design Challenge
- It's the hardest to retrieve a balance between functionality & spacious feel in a 450sq.ft space, embedding 8 different living functions and a series of fixture & appliances. Our design requires a total shuffle on the layout plan so that all the E&M works had to be redesigned and restructured that requires continuously investigation with the technical team and negotiation with the building management. Apart from all those, we had to ensure we introduced max. natural lights to brighten the house.
- Project Duration
- The project took 3 months from demolishment to full-renovated, from Nov 2021 to Jan 2022.
The project was located in Happy Valley, Hong Kong. - Operation Flow
- The design is tailored for a single noble who loves friend gatherings at her place. The suite is able to shift between 3 modes, advantaged by the "living room transformer" : 1) A ready-to-Work,-Cook,-Rest Single user suite, 2)Gathering place connecting with the kitchen bar table, 3) 2-rooms suite formed with bi-fold glass panels .
For any occasions people staying there could always enjoy sunlight and stunning horserace view through the surrounded windows, and feeling more spacious than it is. - Research
- We did a series of online researches for common similar size flats in HK and try to find out the common flow and characters that we should get rid from for this project. On the other hand, we made site visits at different times in a day to study how much natural light could get in and how much effect we could archive if we make spatial changes. We also studied foreign cases and see how those flats were planned for a different living flow.
- Inspiration
- The project is aimed to transform a common 70s Hong Kong home setup to a modern Western style living space, where all zonings were shuffled and were reconstructed to allow flexible use of the living area to multiple functions, and also brought much more natural light throughout the flat that it originally lacks. The project strives for an unique demonstration on small home solutions with transformable zones to embed multiple functions but retaining spatial comforts.
- Image Credits
- Image #1 : Photographer Design IDK, Living Area, 2022
Image #2 : Photographer Design IDK, Semi-private study Area, 2022
Image #3 : Photographer Design IDK, Kitchen & Dining Area, 2022
Image #4 : Photographer Design IDK, Bathroom, 2022
Image #5 : Photographer Design IDK, Kitchen by the window, 2022
Colors of Horace Suite Residential Apartment
Design Interview about Horace Suite Residential Apartment
The project is aimed to transform a common 70s Hong Kong home setup to a modern Western style living space, where all zonings were shuffled and were reconstructed to allow flexible use of the living area to multiple functions, and also brought much more natural light throughout the flat that it originally lacks. The project strives for an unique demonstration on small home solutions with transformable zones to embed multiple functions but retaining spatial comforts.
We put quite a lot of efforts at the space planning stage as we want to fully utilize the use of space and using flow for our client. Change of zonings is also limited by electrical and piping connection point of the building, which is fixed and cannot be altered. Therefore, we need back and fore layout trials and cross checks with technicians before we could propose our idea to our client.
Since a full scale zoning shuffle required so much effort, this practice is rarely happened in typical apartment flats in Hong Kong, but this is also why we want to try and show the possibility how a tiny HK home could be looked like differently with most of the typical homes.
Since a full scale zoning shuffle required so much effort, this practice is rarely happened in typical apartment flats in Hong Kong, but this is also why we want to try and show the possibility how a tiny HK home could be looked like differently with most of the typical homes.
This project has been awarded for more than 5 different awards since 2022 so that we think this had already recognized our design thoughts on residential space. We would see this project a root of our design journey that we could show this to our potential clients as a great example how worthwhile when their money paid for space shuffling.
The design idea comes as fast as 1 month after the layout confirmed, as both of us and our client like minimal designs.
I would say this project's special is on the kitchen position. We put the kitchen the most far away from the entrance door where one had to pass through the living area before they enter the kitchen & dining space. This is rarely happened in a typical HK single flat as most of the buildings fixed the utility zones to align the overall piping and service locations. So it is a very valuable chance for us to make a difference to living way in Hong Kong home, which is actually works too. Aiming high, we hope this could be a sparkle for future change on residential building planning.
We put a lot of effort to make our zone shuffling work, as we have to ask E&M technician about our layout feasibility every time when we get one layout option. We also lean on our carpenter's expertise to make all our built in cabinets installed neatly to create minimal feel. It is also a big challenge for us to bring big pieces into the flat as we have to go through tiny elevators and narrow corridors of the building. It is a big challenge for us to divide the fixture into parts, while maintaining the lease joint lines on the surfaces.
When we first deliver our end product to our client, we received their applause We thought our