00:04In Chinese, sand is a spiritual state that pursues inner peace and harmony.
00:14We use the concept of sandal to merge the outside beautiful scenery into the house,
00:20with the integration of some feng shui culture to create a spiritual space
00:25where traditional and technology, people and scenery are combined.
00:39I'm Patrick Lam and the founder of Simplex Design Studio.
00:43We are architects that focus to expand the possibility of limited space.
00:48This year, we are also one of the judges of the DCN Award.
00:54The apartment building is located in Dongchong of Hong Kong.
01:00The area is along the coast and is a gateway town towards the airport in Hong Kong.
01:09It is also a hilly place where you could capture beautiful views of natural landscape.
01:18The building was built in 2003. It was always a residential building.
01:26The building is near airport and so usually have pilots or flight attendants live here.
01:34The client is a couple from Taiwan. They have a son and a maid.
01:39They travel a lot overseas for work.
01:43They ask for a design which in a way could save their time and effort in managing the house,
01:49but also keep the connection with the beautiful hillside scenery of their home.
01:55They are also very believed in traditional feng shui culture.
02:02Originally, the apartment is a typical two-bedroom layout with the kitchen located in a small irregular-shaped room.
02:13The overall storage is not enough and so you could find sunshine anywhere in the house.
02:20We have wrapped the kitchen out into the living room and become an open layout.
02:25The original irregular room would become the main room with storage and laundry room.
02:32The bathroom door opening is shifted to the center in order to have a more efficient layout.
02:39In order to help the client in managing the house,
02:43we introduce smart intelligence in both hardware and software.
02:48The entrance door is controlled with electronic lock and smart door viewer.
02:54In the foyer, there is a shoes cabinet with a carved foil to put some little stuff like keys.
03:03There is also a full height bronze color mirror.
03:10In the living room, we introduce a wooden deck platform with storage underneath, extended to the window.
03:21The center of the platform is featured with an electronic uplift coffee table.
03:32One side of the wall is wrapped with a full height cabinet, which integrates a TV set, air conditioner, sliding
03:41door of the corridor, storage or decoration space,
03:45and slide fold glass panels in the cabinet wall.
03:52The slide fold panels are closed to create a room if the grandmother is come to stay overnight and take
04:00care of the child.
04:05The wooden works is mainly used with wooden-like ecological minimized board, which is waterproof and scratch-proof,
04:14and mixed with some great veneer and wallpaper.
04:21Another side of the living room is a warm white painted wall, featured with some classic flat frames.
04:32The dining room is made up of an open kitchen with a high-topped dining table.
04:39The dining table is located at the edge of the wooden deck platform.
04:45The countertop and one side use clean stone to make stronger protection.
04:51One side would be a normal height of dining.
04:57The other side could be used as a bar table.
05:03The table is also integrated with drawers and two tailor-made curved storage studs.
05:14The open kitchen is wrapped with full height kitchen cabinet with a carved boil at the center.
05:25The electrical cooktop, microwave, and oven is also integrated into the kitchen cabinet.
05:36The front part of the main room serves as the kitchen and filled with fridge and storage,
05:42and is fitted with a lift-up bag with a washing machine underneath.
05:51We also install an electronic clothes hanger at the ceiling.
06:01The master bedroom is wrapped with wooden frame at the window to create linkage with the scenery outside.
06:13And also as an improvement element for feng shui.
06:20The room is wrapped with full height wardrobe around the corner,
06:25with a little make-up table hidden in the drawers of the wardrobe.
06:40The sun room is wrapped with wooden frame at the window, and filled with lift-up wooden platform for storage.
06:50The sun could directly sit on the platform to use the working desk.
06:56We also install our floating shelves above the working desk.
07:05The bathroom is mainly wrapped with warm white marble tiles with a white mosaic tile feature wall at the shower
07:13cubicle.
07:16A full-length L-shaped countertop and a top mirror cabinet are introduced.
07:26A rock for hanging clothes is integrated into the lower cabinet, and we also install an electronic toilet in the
07:35bathroom.
07:39A small space is a common phenomenon to use the floor.
07:40Not only lacking of space is a common phenomenon in the world, but also lacking of imagination of space.
07:48We always believed that every small space would be a miniature of a society.
07:54Every micro-design could be responsive to macro-social issues.
07:59So we tend to drill into every part of a project, for example, site context, neighborhood, historical background,
08:08needs of end-users or materials, etc.
08:12We hope this inner-city dwelling could help to set a prototype catalyst to improve the living environment.
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