by Annette Chu, Tommy Yeung, Natalie Dungey, Sam Chan, Chloe Su, Emily Po, Chen Yi

A study of HK movie ‘72 tenants’ to understand the essence of a neighbourhood, and how small architectural interventions create the interesting scenes where neighbours chit-chat, gather, or fight... This is further translated into a ‘Neighbourhood’ design concept for an intergenerational co-living high-rise environment where elders and youth share space, share thoughts, share experiences.

Annette Chu, Tommy Yeung and Sam Chan

After the completion of our Off-White House a decade ago, the client and his family continue to explore another playful spatial language of staging pleasant surprises in their other private house. The design, like a treasure box revealed layer by layer, creates a bold, dark and mysterious atmosphere.  A rich material palette of dark grey terrazzo, slates, black and oxidized steel, marble paint is used to contrast the lush greenery and vast view of Victoria Harbour. 

The stairs extend and form a stage wrapping around the dining room.  At the centre is a bespoke round dining table that serves as a centrepiece.  Instead of adding a “Lazy Susan” above the table to serve a large party, the design reforms a traditional round dining table to a neat, transformable and versatile piece by having a built-in revolving disc to create a unified surface for dining.  Two outer rings, treated with refined patina, are installed to expand the dining surface from 2m to 3m when needed.  When not in use, they are hung on the wall and treated as an art-piece. 

by Annette Chu, Timothy Cheung, Kan Tong

The Yan Chai Hospital Jockey Club Care and Attention Home interior project is a bold attempt to change a Hong Kong typical elderly home, from often conceived as a gloomy space lacking of character into a more home-like environment incorporating technology.

Situated next to a park and occupies two floors of a multi-services complex, the design optimises natural light by creating full-height windows to all common rooms and dormitories.  It also allows residents and their visitors to enjoy the lush greenery outside and look down to their local park.

The interior design makes reference to the memory of old villages, and how people gather at the threshold spaces in front of their home and chat with their neighbours.  Making use of the architectural language of “porches”, the design creates intermediate space between private dormitories and communal space, giving residents a diversity of spaces.  It also dilutes the perception of a long corridor and creates space with various characters, helping residents especially those with dementia to locate and navigate themselves.

White cement terrazzo with green and pink glass chips, different shades of wood are used to create a more timeless environment.   Inside the bedrooms are softly carpeted floor and wood.   Each resident enjoys a custom-made bedside cabinet with RFID lock where they can hide their own treasure.  Wood cabinets, a wood privacy screen, and a TV lift cabinet at the end of the bed are provided for each resident.  Each resident can also control the lighting colour and intensity of his or her individual space.

There is nothing more wonderful than seeing more the residents have taken more walks inside the newly transformed home, and their family is enjoying their visit and spending time there.

by Annette Chu & Gigi Chiu

The project is a renovation to a 4 storeys tenement building from 1950s in Peel Street, Central, a Hong Kong neighbourhood which undergoes rapid redevelopment.

The design is the interplay between existing and new, rough and craft elements in this walk up building.  The exterior of the building is painted completely black to contrast the vibrant street life, and highlighting the life inside the old Chinese noodle store which the owner wants to retain and the new Western coffee shop she introduces. This inspires us to keep the existing building envelope intact and retain some old features.

Our first memory of walking through the existing old building was a 50 years old Chinese noodle store on the left-hand side of the entrance.  We heard the owner chit chatting with his regular, we entered the gate.  Walking up the internal staircase, we found a handwritten Chinese flat number “No.15 fourth floor” on the wall in front of its door.  It propelled us to keep the element of traditional handcraft typography in our design.  We later approached one of very few stencil craftsmen left in Hong Kong to chisel some signages for us.

Mounting next to the entrance gate is a metal plate telling a brief history of Peel Street.  On both sides are some letter boxes with letters on zinc stencil.  The existing concrete stairs with ceramic tiles nosing are kept, and the damaged part is painted with a number using a similar stencil during repair, indicating the step number hinting one’s whereabouts.

There are seven units in total in the building, with six studio flats and one 2-bedroom flat.  Outside each unit is a thin black steel frame for umbrella with the flat number plate and an entrance light.  Internally, renders of the old concrete columns and beams are hacked off carefully and remain exposed, and the design introduces a clean lines design with a limited palette of materials.  The two different layout calls for two different settings for the studios.  One uses a bespoke sliding timber screen adding a warm element to the concrete and the light grey epoxy flooring, while the other uses a string curtain resulting a more theatrical atmosphere.  Thin steel black frames are used throughout the interior to create sense of lightness.  Natural timber veneered panels are used as highlights, for furniture including splash-back of the pantry.  To achieve that, special timber panels with a PVDF overlay are used to ensure they are anti-moisture and anti-bacteria.  Bathrooms are kept in a grey monotone using a combination of ceramic tiles and cement renders.  One side is cladded with stainless steel panels sand-blasted with a varying degree by hand to create a dreamy effect.

For the 2-bedrooms flat, the design caters a partly undetermined layout.  A modular furniture system with pull-down bed and moveable boxes is installed along two main walls.  Together with the bi-folding metal screens, tenants can decide on their living room and bedroom location and organize their preferred interior arrangement.

The roof of the building is intended a communal space where tenants can mingle.   Each roof is equipped with a dark grey stained concrete sink with exposed aggregates, and next to the two concrete sinks are large troughs for plants or beer baths.

by Annette Chu, Vincent Kwok and Gabriel Lee

Inspired by the bi-directional reading of punched letters and patterns on the folding metal gates, we asked a question: how shall one perceive this 1960s tenement building (“tong lau”) at the corner of Tai Ping Shan Street and Upper Station Street? Where two streets meet, the building at the corner has its two facades in view. When you are frontal to one façade, the other will be at perpendicular. Vice versa, the degree of viewing to both facades will always add up to 90. True? We first honestly express the four storeys of residential units by four arrays of aluminium sections, with sizes and spacing resembling the construction of the metal gates. Deliberately, one side of each section is of a different colour. Let it be silver. And with a progressive turn of 2 degree, each section is at a slightly different angle. Light. Reflection. Movement of people. Various degrees of ‘redness’ are seen. A pottery gallery has moved in to the ground floor and basement, forming part of the informal art network in this neighbourhood. Above, there are two studios and one duplex residential unit where a rich palette of colour and materials are introduced. Foldable windows are introduced on Upper Station Street façade, giving the possibility of opening up the interior to a quiet street in the city. Photographer: William Au-Yeung, Bo