Beary High | KEAT ONG

This is a penthouse at The Tembusu condominium with a built-in area of 363 square meters.  It houses a young couple with a baby, a toddler and their 2 domestic helpers with the occasional visits from the parents. 

Owners are avid collectors of the Be@rbrick art toys and wanted a place in the massive home to exhibit them.  Thus, the design narrative started with a platoon of bears  from outer space coming  to Earth and settling on top of a Tembusu tree in a vast rainforest.  

Exploiting the 4.6m high ceiling of the penthouse, a “spaceship” for the bears was  created to take centrestage for the living area.  Using the methodology of “Injecting Architecture”,  the irregularly-shaped floor plan is being carved in such a way that the entire space is seemingly defined by the few families of volumetric forms that were  “injected”.  One of these families is the aluminium-clad “spaceship” bearbrick display cabinet which volume visually extend to the other side of the home, encasing the TV wall cabinet system at the Family area.  Included in this family of volumes are the 3 “light wells”  light boxes which “protrude” into the living space through the curved ceiling.  

The curved ceiling balanced the seemingly high tech vibe of the home with a slight vernacular touch. This is also amplified by the selection of loose furniture like the “Ming” dining chairs and the timber furniture    beneath. This dichotomy of stylistic approaches seemed to have worked wonders for a typical modern Chinese family which are often divided in opinions between traditional and contemporary looks. 

Another family of volumes that are “injected” into the space are  the ones that are surfaced with black tinted glass.  These include the entry doorway furniture system, the living audio-visual cabinet system, the dry kitchen which also visually connects the outdoor cabinets  in the main open terrace on one side and the alleyway into the private zones on the other. 

The outdoor cabinet system hides a 6 meter long flip-down, bi-fold feasting table for that weekly gatherings that the owners intend to organise.  The 18 numbers of folding dinning chairs tucked neatly within the cabinet as well. 

Above the dry Kitchen, the veneer-cladded fin-ceiling emulates the flow and random patterns of the rainforest canopies and overhanging roots.  Lights are tucked in between the fins, mimicking the daylight seeping through the forest canopies.

Flanked by the wet kitchen and the service yard, the alleyway transit one from the huge “public” to the “private” zone where the family area, the liquor room and the 5 bedrooms are located.  The encased family TV cabinet system forms the rear of the  aluminium-clad “spaceship”.  The lighting of the fin-ceiling transited from spotlights to strip lighting at the family area to create an impression of a skylight above.

The “cocoon” bed was specifically designed for the master bedroom. The angled flaps of  the tall bed head was done to give an added sense of privacy to the users. Padded platform and side tables were integrated to allow the  young kids to play with the parents on the bed without the fear of injuring them.  

The original master study was converted to liquor room as the male owner is an avid collector of liquor and spirits.  Thus, all walls within need to be dedicated to the displaying of the collection. The shelving system tapers towards the ceiling to break away from the monotony and mirrors help to  “floats” the shelves and extend the breadth  of the tight space.

The corridor leading to the rest of the bedrooms are given the “volumetric” treatment as well with one wall being covered by the same black tinted glass. The fin-ceiling also extent fully into the corridor, making this narrow space a resultant of intersecting volumes.