The Wings Penthouse
Location: Tseung Kwan O, Hong Kong
Area: 1,138 sq.ft.
Status: Completed May 2023
Collaborators: Fun Yuen, Ryan Lam
Styling & Photo: Cat Chui
This project embodies the concept of open plan living while maintaining the functionality of a multi-bedroom dwelling. The design features strategically placed sculptural joinery, fold-out furniture, and partition doors that define the spaces with a cohesive design language throughout the apartment. It allows for flexibility and adapts to current and future needs. A series of configurations can be set out and made to host a varying number of dwellers.
The client primarily lives by herself in the apartment, with her family members visiting once or twice annually, spending approximately 2 weeks each time. She wanted a home that could accommodate her family when they visit and she would like to host friends to occasional gatherings. The design provides a solution for the accommodation request without sacrificing spatial efficiency when the guest rooms are not called for - an open plan residence with overall fluidity between spaces.
A simple and natural material palette is applied throughout the apartment - oak veneer and a light grey finish as the primary choices of material, supplemented by grey quartz stone and completed with mirrors at specific locations. Ceramic tile flooring is chosen for easy maintenance; while joinery and furniture are factory-fabricated and assembled on site.
In traditional Japanese houses, futons are commonly used instead of beds. A futon is a low-lying mattress that is set up on the tatami floor. Residents would fold the futons every morning and store them away to make room for living. We see the application of fold-out furniture as the contemporary interpretation of such tradition and we’re surprised it isn’t being considered more often, especially in crowded metropolitan areas.
Borrowing a simple idea from the futon tradition, we replaced the existing partition walls with multiple free-standing furniture and a central spine that houses two folding beds, two sets of sliding doors, one set of bi-fold doors and storage systems on both sides of the spine. Rhythm of curves, apertures and openings in the spine articulate this multi-purpose joinery. The design offers flexibility that adapts to the dwellers’ style of living. For instance, an open layout with full transparency is ideal for when the owner lives alone; a generous 2-bedroom arrangement is possible while a 3-bedroom setting can host up to 3 guests. Our intervention in this case also opens up the panoramic view the apartment has to offer and the better spatial efficiency is able to raise the quality of living by a sizable margin.
