https://www.scmp.com/rss/322659/feed Residential spaces, industrial makeovers and emerging designers en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Kora Kwok Kora Kwok After designing more than 300 projects for clients, Keith Chan Shing-hin faced an unfamiliar challenge: designing for himself. The founder of interior design house Hintegro had competing priorities for his 580 sq ft, one-bedroom apartment in Sha Tin. It needed to reflect his aesthetics and approach to design but, unlike many of his high-profile clients, Chan was working with a far more modest budget. “Designers don’t necessarily make a ton of money in Hong Kong,” he laughs. “But I remind myself... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/design-interiors/article/3349399/interior-designer-challenge-finally-designing-his-own-home?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/design-interiors/article/3349399/interior-designer-challenge-finally-designing-his-own-home?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 10 Apr 2026 00:00:11 +0000 Charmaine Chan,Stephen McCarty Charmaine Chan,Stephen McCarty Forty years ago, a building rose above Central district that would rewrite the rules of architecture. The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) Main Building – a tower so radical in its conception that it made every high‑rise built before it look timid – remains as startling today as the day it opened. To mark the anniversary, we tell its story in two voices: those of architect Norman Foster, who, as he returns to the city, reflects on the inspiration behind the building that defined... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/design-interiors/article/3348811/norman-fosters-hi-tech-hsbc-masterpiece-turns-40?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/design-interiors/article/3348811/norman-fosters-hi-tech-hsbc-masterpiece-turns-40?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 03 Apr 2026 08:00:09 +0000 Adele Brunner Adele Brunner French artist Elsa Jeandedieu has never been afraid of change. Having moved nearly a dozen times in the past 17 years, she has now spent three years in her current Mid-Levels apartment – a 1,266 sq ft, three-bedroom, two-bathroom home she shares with her husband, Joseph, and their son, Noam, now four. The combination of a great location, light and the character of this particular block and its other residents has persuaded her to stay put – at least for now. “My son used to be in the main... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/design-interiors/article/3347246/elsa-jeandedieus-hong-kong-home-canvas-constant-flux?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/design-interiors/article/3347246/elsa-jeandedieus-hong-kong-home-canvas-constant-flux?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 24 Mar 2026 07:15:08 +0000 Charmaine Chan Charmaine Chan “Beauty is only skin deep.” That proverb has championed inner qualities so successfully that outward appearance is often dismissed as superficial. In architecture, that assumption is harder to sustain. Around the world, increasingly loud calls are being made for an end to buildings deemed boring, if not outright ugly, on the outside. But what does that mean? Who decides? And why should we care? For months, these questions led me down a rabbit hole that seemed to circle back on itself. That was... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/design-interiors/article/3347097/have-architects-built-boredom-our-streetscapes-and-can-it-harm-our-health?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/design-interiors/article/3347097/have-architects-built-boredom-our-streetscapes-and-can-it-harm-our-health?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 19 Mar 2026 09:00:12 +0000 Peta Tomlinson Peta Tomlinson Intending to live there for years to come, the new owners of this Ap Lei Chau flat anticipate waking up every day to the picture-postcard seascape beyond their bedroom window. The scenic Southside outlook was only one reason the couple, parents of two young daughters, bought the 1,950 sq ft apartment in 2023. They knew they could also personalise the place. During a 10-month renovation (completed in December 2024) Simon Zeng, co-founder of Stylus Studio, was enlisted to create a home that would... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/design-interiors/article/3346745/seaview-home-hong-kongs-southside-designed-evolve-over-time?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/design-interiors/article/3346745/seaview-home-hong-kongs-southside-designed-evolve-over-time?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 17 Mar 2026 07:15:10 +0000 Adele Brunner Adele Brunner Some spaces, like people, are simply waiting for their second act. For a rundown unit in Tsim Sha Tsui, this meant a total transformation into a modern pied à terre. Frank Chan first lived in the 500 sq ft space as a boy soon after it was built in 1959. Although the property remained in his family, he had long since moved out, creating a life in Canada with his wife, Mary (who is also from Hong Kong). When the couple, now retired, decided to spend more time in the SAR with friends and family,... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/design-interiors/article/3342675/origami-apartment-how-washi-paper-and-precision-design-reshaped-tsim-sha-tsui-flat?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/design-interiors/article/3342675/origami-apartment-how-washi-paper-and-precision-design-reshaped-tsim-sha-tsui-flat?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 19 Feb 2026 05:00:08 +0000 Peta Tomlinson Peta Tomlinson The view that sold it wasn’t of the glittering Cotai Strip nearby, but the green sweep of a golf club where the owner holds membership. For a Hong Kong businessman and his family of four, this tranquil vista turned a 3,500 sq ft apartment into the ultimate holiday retreat. Situated where the 18-hole course meets the pulse of Macau’s entertainment district, the four-bedroom flat offered designer Max Lam Tsz-hong the opportunity to weave comfort and luxury into an apartment completed in 2019 but... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/design-interiors/article/3340857/macau-retreat-where-luxury-comfort-and-golf-are-par-course?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/design-interiors/article/3340857/macau-retreat-where-luxury-comfort-and-golf-are-par-course?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 29 Jan 2026 07:00:09 +0000 Francesca Specter Francesca Specter When Hong Kong-based designer Yu-chang Chen was asked to breathe new life into a 30-year-old, 1,200 sq ft apartment in Shanghai, the challenge was personal. The unit had belonged to his late aunt and, for 30 years, had been the site of many family gatherings. His cousin, Lu Yi, who inherited the flat, asked Chen to design the space in tribute to his mother, Chen’s aunt, in the style popular when she was born. Chen, who was otherwise given creative freedom, says that his main task was to do “old... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/design-interiors/article/3339545/wong-kar-wai-film-set-no-its-old-shanghai-style-family-home-jing?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/design-interiors/article/3339545/wong-kar-wai-film-set-no-its-old-shanghai-style-family-home-jing?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 21 Jan 2026 05:00:09 +0000 Peta Tomlinson Peta Tomlinson What a difference a decade makes. Ten years ago, when we asked those in the know to nominate their top interior design trends, none could have forecast how the world would change. For 2026, we invited several of the same interviewees to reflect on those earlier predictions and what they see trending this year. Stand-outs include artificial intelligence, as both creator and destroyer of calm; pandemic-led regrouping; and the colour of the year: white. Before you start throwing pots of paint at... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/design-interiors/article/3339178/pantones-colour-year-ai-and-other-forces-shaping-interiors-2026?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/design-interiors/article/3339178/pantones-colour-year-ai-and-other-forces-shaping-interiors-2026?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 14 Jan 2026 07:00:14 +0000 Low Shi Ping Low Shi Ping How could a mere cluster of mushrooms support a 2kg piece of glass? That was the question on everyone’s lips when they saw an unusual coffee table at Singapore Design Week in September. Beneath the transparent top were golden-brown caps seemingly sprouting from a solid trunk. “There was a sense of disbelief that mushrooms, which are mostly made of water and very soft, could actually hold something of weight,” says Ng Sze Kiat, founder of Bewilder, a five-year-old Singapore-based design studio... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/design-interiors/article/3338286/fungus-future-furniture-across-asia?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/design-interiors/article/3338286/fungus-future-furniture-across-asia?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 03 Jan 2026 02:00:11 +0000 Adele Brunner Adele Brunner On a defunct 1960s cargo pier in the Zhoushan archipelago, Zhejiang province, the temporary Seaside Pavilion, built in 2024, stands with a deceptive grace that belies the extreme logistical coordination required to place it there. Prefabricated parts had to be transported to the remote Chaishan island via a multi-stage journey of cargo ships, small trailers and often sheer human effort. The construction team was also frequently forced to perch on surrounding rocks and work with basic handheld... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/design-interiors/article/3336425/can-architecture-be-fleeting-check-out-these-transient-structures-and-see?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/design-interiors/article/3336425/can-architecture-be-fleeting-check-out-these-transient-structures-and-see?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 19 Dec 2025 07:15:11 +0000 Peta Tomlinson Peta Tomlinson It is possible to see every corner of this multi-room Discovery Bay apartment if you stand by the dining table. That the flat feels so well connected, however, is even more remarkable when you consider that the building itself is unusually angular. “Everything inside was weirdly oblique, with narrow corridors and walls protruding at 45 degrees,” says Jay Jordan, co-founder, with Christina Standaloft, of design studio Craft of Both. Equally perplexing were the windows framing the rolling hills... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/design-interiors/article/3335736/how-designers-engineered-flow-young-familys-home?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/design-interiors/article/3335736/how-designers-engineered-flow-young-familys-home?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 10 Dec 2025 07:15:15 +0000 Charmaine Chan Charmaine Chan I’M A FIRST-GENERATION Chinese-American. My parents left Shanghai in 1948 to go to grad school at Cornell. When I was born (in 1949), my grandfather gave me a Chinese name that my mother (a biochemist) said sounded like Billy. She didn’t like its meaning because it was too flowery, so she gave me a Chinese name that basically means “good money”, which is not very romantic. But to respect my grandfather’s wishes, she gave me the American name Billie, which is unusual even in America. I GREW UP... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/design-interiors/article/3335700/architect-billie-tsien-identity-fear-and-doing-duolingo?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/design-interiors/article/3335700/architect-billie-tsien-identity-fear-and-doing-duolingo?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 09 Dec 2025 07:18:12 +0000 Gavin Yeung Gavin Yeung Sculptural seating shaped by rocks, moss and fallen trees. Dreamlike rooms connecting East and West that evoke themes of family and belonging. These are just some of the creative imaginings of Hong Kong and international design luminaries such as Patrizia Moroso and Ann Chan – as part of a cohort of 16 renowned designers – for the Maison&Objet Intérieurs design fair as it returns to the Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Centre from December 3 to 6. Following its debut in 2024, this second... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/design-interiors/article/3334736/immersive-interiors-seoul-paris-maisonobjet-interieurs-returns-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/design-interiors/article/3334736/immersive-interiors-seoul-paris-maisonobjet-interieurs-returns-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 02 Dec 2025 04:45:08 +0000 Adele Brunner Adele Brunner Some people discover their dream home by chance. For Jeff Chan and Liz Leung, it took two patient years. Living in a rented flat in Jardine’s Lookout, they were determined to stay in the neighbourhood and had even pinpointed the building they longed to call home. Yet, week after week of scouring estate agency windows yielded nothing, and they nearly gave up hope. At the end of last year, however, their persistence paid off: a 1,200 sq ft apartment in their coveted block came onto the market. “We... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/design-interiors/article/3333073/inside-hong-kong-flat-where-everything-carefully-curated-even-cat?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/design-interiors/article/3333073/inside-hong-kong-flat-where-everything-carefully-curated-even-cat?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 24 Nov 2025 02:00:12 +0000 Peta Tomlinson Peta Tomlinson During the pandemic years, psychologists urged housebound Hongkongers to keep bodies and minds occupied with new pursuits. For Jenny and Marc Selevan, this wasn’t just a suggestion, it was the final nudge to realise a long-cherished dream: to own a Chinese junk. After 19 years in the city, filled with weekends on hired junks, the American couple and their two sons decided the time was now. After months of searching, they found “the one”: Serendipity, a 55-foot motorised teak junk built in 1994.... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/design-interiors/article/3331959/how-one-hong-kong-couple-transformed-derelict-junk-weekend-retreat?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/design-interiors/article/3331959/how-one-hong-kong-couple-transformed-derelict-junk-weekend-retreat?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 13 Nov 2025 02:00:11 +0000 Fionnuala McHugh Fionnuala McHugh In 1992, a British newspaper sent me to New York to interview a man called Paul Mellon. He was 85 and was said to have been wealthier longer than any other living American; the family fortune flowed from the Mellon Bank, founded in 1870. He was also, according to a London gallery owner, “the last civilised collector”. In his Manhattan town house off Park Avenue, one of his seven residences, there was a Canaletto, a squad of Constables, a Stubbs, some Bonnards; the dining room alone had a... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/design-interiors/article/3330044/moving-through-life-without-collecting-lessons-nomadic-childhood?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/design-interiors/article/3330044/moving-through-life-without-collecting-lessons-nomadic-childhood?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 29 Oct 2025 23:00:10 +0000 Adele Brunner Adele Brunner Few spaces are as captivating as those belonging to passionate collectors, where every piece tells a story. Yet what happens if you enjoy collecting but aren’t sure how best to display your treasures? Enter Quinn Wong of Studio Quinn, a designer with a passion for objects and how things fit together. She was enlisted by young couple Matt and Jess Chung to renovate their four-storey, 2,600 sq ft home in Chung Hom Kok, and help them place their collections of contemporary art, vintage furniture... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/design-interiors/article/3330424/how-hong-kong-family-home-became-art-laden-haven?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/design-interiors/article/3330424/how-hong-kong-family-home-became-art-laden-haven?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 28 Oct 2025 07:15:08 +0000 Adele Brunner Adele Brunner Frenchman Vincent Sahuc is living proof that one can never say never. Having renovated a ground-floor flat on Lamma Island in 2018, he swore he wouldn’t go through the process again. And yet … fast forward to today and he’s just completed the refurbishment of another 700 sq ft flat in a village house on Lamma, complete with a similarly sized rooftop. Dubbed “The Lookout” by Sahuc and his partner, Jerome Sozzi, an arts logistics professional, also from France, the 1980s-built apartment had never... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/design-interiors/article/3329760/how-le-corbusier-and-french-bubble-houses-inspired-lamma-island-renovation?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/design-interiors/article/3329760/how-le-corbusier-and-french-bubble-houses-inspired-lamma-island-renovation?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 21 Oct 2025 08:00:09 +0000 Christopher DeWolf Christopher DeWolf For nearly a century, farmers in the northern New Territories have cultivated fish ponds to supply fresh seafood to Hong Kong markets. But with the Northern Metropolis project set to transform vast areas into housing, industrial zones and office space, this local form of aquaculture might soon disappear. What if there were a way for these fish ponds to coexist with new developments, serving vital ecological, economic and recreational functions for the future residents of the Northern... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/design-interiors/article/3329056/solar-fish-pond-devices-boost-growth-less-labour-san-tin-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/design-interiors/article/3329056/solar-fish-pond-devices-boost-growth-less-labour-san-tin-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 15 Oct 2025 10:15:08 +0000 Peta Tomlinson Peta Tomlinson In the decade since starting their interior design studio, Vincent Lim Chin-hwa and Elaine Manzi Lu, partners in business and in life, have evolved personally and professionally. Mostly, says Lim, they’ve come to understand that homes adapt and change, just as their occupants do. Which is why their Happy Valley flat, which they completed last year as Lim + Lu, and as parents of two young girls, stands in stark contrast to their first home, as newlyweds. “As young designers starting out, we... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/design-interiors/article/3328886/why-design-duos-family-home-celebrates-mess-memory-and-grandmas-ceramics?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/design-interiors/article/3328886/why-design-duos-family-home-celebrates-mess-memory-and-grandmas-ceramics?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 14 Oct 2025 10:15:11 +0000 Peta Tomlinson Peta Tomlinson Can you imagine fitting a jamming area for him and a dressing room for her in a 579 sq ft apartment? Add to that space to hang two bicycles and ample room to play darts. Heiman Chan, founder of Deco Farmer Studio, can – and did – for his client, Geoffrey Wong, a first-time homebuyer who aspired to create “a happy home” in the Tsuen Wan neighbourhood where he’d rented for several years. The fitness enthusiast enjoys the area’s cycling paths and sports amenities, and he finds the sea views... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/design-interiors/article/3327967/how-small-hong-kong-flat-makes-space-music-fashion-and-fun?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/design-interiors/article/3327967/how-small-hong-kong-flat-makes-space-music-fashion-and-fun?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 07 Oct 2025 07:15:08 +0000 Adele Brunner Adele Brunner It is never too late for reinvention – even when you’re more than a century old. Last year, the Kam Pek Community Centre, a 1920s building on Macau’s historic Avenida de Almeida Ribeiro, aka San Ma Lo, shed its outdated skin for a sleek, new identity. Reborn as Kam Pek Market, the 23,142 sq ft, three-storey protected building officially opened at the end of December as a stylish food hall, with phase two, the third floor, due to be completed by the end of the year as an events venue. Guiding the... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/design-interiors/article/3327768/1920s-macau-community-centre-gets-contemporary-makeover-kam-pek-market?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/design-interiors/article/3327768/1920s-macau-community-centre-gets-contemporary-makeover-kam-pek-market?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 05 Oct 2025 06:15:07 +0000 Charmaine Chan Charmaine Chan Catering to the young is anything but child’s play these days, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be fun. Take Lezhi Camp, a 2,560 square metre playground in the hills of Kunming, Yunnan province, where visitors are encouraged to commune with nature both outdoors and in. At the heart of this ambitious educational and recreational facility is a siheyuan, or courtyard house, given a spirited 21st century twist by Joey Ho Tzung Hsien, of Pal Design Group. Designed for little humans and grown-ups... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/design-interiors/article/3327359/playful-reimagining-traditional-chinese-siheyuan?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/design-interiors/article/3327359/playful-reimagining-traditional-chinese-siheyuan?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 30 Sep 2025 10:15:08 +0000 Madelaine Clark Madelaine Clark A Hong Kong couple in their late 60s didn’t want the headache of a long and complicated home renovation. But they did want their three-bedroom, 1,368 sq ft North Point apartment redesigned to suit their evolving needs. So they enlisted interior design studio hoo to create a forever home able to host family gatherings and adapt in the coming years. Balancing flexibility and sophistication was the priority, says hoo founder YC Chen, who used high-quality finishes and contrasting light and dark... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/design-interiors/article/3326520/hong-kong-flat-redesigned-sexagenarians-offers-flexibility-comfort-and-luxury?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/design-interiors/article/3326520/hong-kong-flat-redesigned-sexagenarians-offers-flexibility-comfort-and-luxury?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 23 Sep 2025 10:15:10 +0000 Daven Wu Daven Wu How do you design a home like Chapel Residence in a way that speaks to the occupants’ Christian faith without descending into expected visual tropes? For Nelson Chow Chi-wai, of NC Design and Architecture, the answer emerged through a three-year journey that transformed work into genuine friendship and collaboration. Recommended by a mutual friend, Chow found in his clients – devoted Christian parents involved in real estate development – kindred spirits who shared his appreciation for natural... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/design-interiors/article/3325661/nelson-chow-designed-hong-kong-home-essence-chapel-devoted-christian-parents?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/design-interiors/article/3325661/nelson-chow-designed-hong-kong-home-essence-chapel-devoted-christian-parents?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 16 Sep 2025 10:15:11 +0000 Low Shi Ping Low Shi Ping As the Lion City celebrates its 60th anniversary, Singapore Design Week – which kicks off today, on September 11 – is also celebrating creativity. Here are six designers to watch out for. Duyi Han Atelier Duyi Han Work: They Told Me Shanghai-based artist and designer Duyi Han has a diverse portfolio of work spanning installations, prints and scenography. His projects explore the relationship between humanity and nature, incorporating mythical and symbolic elements. Frequently drawing on Taoism,... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/design-interiors/article/3325130/6-talents-hong-kong-and-mainland-china-catch-singapore-design-week?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/design-interiors/article/3325130/6-talents-hong-kong-and-mainland-china-catch-singapore-design-week?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 12 Sep 2025 10:15:09 +0000 Low Shi Ping Low Shi Ping Singapore Design Week kicks off on September 11 in a celebration of creativity in the Lion City’s 60th anniversary year. Here Aric Chen, co-curator of the week’s Design Futures Forum 2025, talks exclusively to PostMag and answers our Q&A. How did you arrive at the theme “Braving Complexities”? Co-curator Ong Ker-Shing (of Lekker Architects) and I thought it was time to shift away from the conventional design forum tendency of presenting design as a problem-solving exercise to one of navigating... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/design-interiors/article/3324975/aric-chen-years-design-futures-forum-singapore-design-week?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/design-interiors/article/3324975/aric-chen-years-design-futures-forum-singapore-design-week?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 10 Sep 2025 04:45:08 +0000 Manica Tiglao Manica Tiglao This 750 sq ft West Kowloon flat is a masterclass in adaptable design. Slide back a wall in the living room and the area nearly doubles in size; slide it forward and a comfortable guest bedroom appears. The seamless transformation is proof that good design is as much about versatility as it is about style. To reimagine their home, owner Ben Chao, who works in media, and his partner, who is in banking, enlisted Norman Ung Wai-lun, co-founder of design studios Design Eight Five Two (Deft) and... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/design-interiors/article/3324717/flexible-hong-kong-flat-can-be-transformed-suit-its-owners-needs?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/design-interiors/article/3324717/flexible-hong-kong-flat-can-be-transformed-suit-its-owners-needs?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 08 Sep 2025 10:15:08 +0000 Low Shi Ping Low Shi Ping For those who can’t stand creepy-crawlies, brace yourselves: at the “Unnatural History Museum of Singapore”, a special commission conceptualised for the upcoming Singapore Design Week (SDW) and staged at the National Design Centre, cyborg cockroaches are here to save the day. Equipped with tiny electronic “backpacks”, these hi-tech critters can be remotely guided through disaster zones for search-and-rescue missions. Who knew our most unwelcome guests could become our heroes? “By turning one of... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/design-interiors/article/3324282/what-see-singapore-design-week-cyborg-cockroaches-food-future?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/design-interiors/article/3324282/what-see-singapore-design-week-cyborg-cockroaches-food-future?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 07 Sep 2025 09:15:08 +0000 Peta Tomlinson Peta Tomlinson Before Clifton Leung’s father passed away last year, he expressed the wish that his wife could continue living in the town house in Stanley they had shared for almost three decades. Not renovated in decades, the tall, skinny building was due for a refit, and as the only designer among him and his two sisters, Leung, founder of Clifton Leung Design Workshop, naturally took on the task of remodelling the family home into an age-appropriate retirement space for his 84-year-old mother, Mabel. Not... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/design-interiors/article/3323504/future-proofed-hong-kong-home-realised-late-fathers-request-his-elderly-wife?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/design-interiors/article/3323504/future-proofed-hong-kong-home-realised-late-fathers-request-his-elderly-wife?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 31 Aug 2025 04:45:08 +0000 Kate Whitehead Kate Whitehead The wellness ritual you can’t live without? My work as an auctioneer can be high-pressure, and when I need to relax, I do weight training. I find it an almost meditative practice and do it three times a week, either at Pure Fitness or at the clubhouse at home. The most conversation-sparking feature in your home? Guests often comment on the design of our home, which my talented wife, Grace, can take credit for. We live in Tseung Kwan O and have a great sea view. She made the most of the ocean... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/design-interiors/article/3322003/what-inspires-auctioneer-and-modern-art-expert-when-hes-clock?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/design-interiors/article/3322003/what-inspires-auctioneer-and-modern-art-expert-when-hes-clock?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 20 Aug 2025 22:00:10 +0000 Christopher DeWolf Christopher DeWolf In the Kowloon City Municipal Services Building, you can play badminton, borrow a book from the library, sample some of Hong Kong’s best Thai food and shop in a wet market where actor Chow Yun-fat is sometimes spotted buying his groceries. But not for much longer. The landmark complex is set to be demolished and redevel­oped in the near future. For University of Hong Kong associate professor of architecture Ying Zhou, it’s an example of both Hong Kong’s architectural ingenuity and how crucial... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/design-interiors/article/3321972/hong-kongs-urban-living-rooms-can-these-public-spaces-survive?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/design-interiors/article/3321972/hong-kongs-urban-living-rooms-can-these-public-spaces-survive?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 19 Aug 2025 07:15:12 +0000 Peta Tomlinson Peta Tomlinson Feeling hemmed in by Covid restrictions several years ago, Alan Lau toyed with swapping his family’s Mid-Levels flat for the laid-back way of life he had enjoyed in Brisbane, Australia, where he had worked decades earlier and still has business interests. His wife, Lydia, having studied in Sydney, understood the attraction. However, not wishing to transplant their two adolescent children and leave a large extended family behind, the couple reached a compromise. As much as possible, they’d try to... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/design-interiors/article/3321526/relaxed-aussie-lifestyle-shapes-hong-kong-home?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/design-interiors/article/3321526/relaxed-aussie-lifestyle-shapes-hong-kong-home?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 12 Aug 2025 07:15:09 +0000 Peta Tomlinson Peta Tomlinson Hong Kong lawyer Kapil Kirpalani had almost given up on trying to buy the perfect apartment when he had his very own Christmas miracle. It was December 24, 2020. He’d just missed the bus home to Mid-Levels after a dinner in Stanley and, while waiting for the next one, the bachelor’s eyes were drawn to a real estate shopfront. And there it was: a Repulse Bay beauty with curved windows framing knockout views of the sea in front, and mountains behind. “It looked too good to be true,” says... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/design-interiors/article/3320241/dream-flat-hong-kongs-repulse-bay-was-fortuitous-find?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/design-interiors/article/3320241/dream-flat-hong-kongs-repulse-bay-was-fortuitous-find?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 04 Aug 2025 10:00:08 +0000 Manica Tiglao Manica Tiglao In a city where space is at a premium and apartments often follow a rigid template, one homeowner in Tin Hau has reimagined what an urban flat can be. The 700 sq ft apartment, built in 1976, once conformed to a familiar sequence: living room, two bedrooms and a narrow corridor leading to a compact kitchen and bathroom. But when Karl Laing, a Hong Kong lawyer who uses the unit as his pied-à-terre, teamed up with Edge Design Institute founder Gary Chang Chee-keung, the space was transformed into... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/design-interiors/article/3318953/reimagining-what-urban-flat-can-be-hong-kongs-tin-hau?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/design-interiors/article/3318953/reimagining-what-urban-flat-can-be-hong-kongs-tin-hau?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 22 Jul 2025 12:00:08 +0000 Christopher DeWolf Christopher DeWolf If you visit Venice, Italy, this year and stumble upon a courtyard wrapped in a lattice of bamboo poles, you might think you’ve been transported to the streets of Hong Kong. But it isn’t a mirage – it’s the SAR’s official contribution to the Venice Biennale of Architecture. The installation stands out for its utilitarian aesthetic. Designed by Hong Kong-based Beau Architects and the Architecture Land Initiative (a Swiss- and Hong Kong-based architectural cooperative), in collaboration with... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/design-interiors/article/3318683/world-discovering-bamboo-scaffolding-hong-kong-phases-it-out?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/design-interiors/article/3318683/world-discovering-bamboo-scaffolding-hong-kong-phases-it-out?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 19 Jul 2025 22:15:09 +0000 Fionnuala McHugh Fionnuala McHugh The man considered Hong Kong’s emperor of architecture – the city’s own master builder, its home-sprung fountainhead – is talking about his new book. The original title he’d chosen was Learning from Hong Kong? “The question mark is important because that means I’m not being too conceited or self-centred,” says Rocco Yim Sen-kee. Framed within the screen of a video call from his office, he has the look of an earnest monk. “The idea that people could learn from Hong Kong in the art of architecture... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/design-interiors/article/3317842/how-hong-kongs-master-builder-rocco-yim-left-his-mark-city?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/design-interiors/article/3317842/how-hong-kongs-master-builder-rocco-yim-left-his-mark-city?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 13 Jul 2025 22:15:10 +0000 Christopher DeWolf Christopher DeWolf The Olympian City plaza plays host to Christmas markets, and maybe the odd commercial event, but for the most part, it remains empty, a vast expanse of sun-beaten brick next to a noisy road, punctuated by palm trees offering little shade. “There’s a lot of space but nobody actually stays here,” says architect Su Chang. “So how do you form a sense of place? It’s quite challenging.” In 2023, Su and his studio, Su Chang Design Research Office, had the opportunity to improve the space when community... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/design-interiors/article/3316931/revitalising-hong-kongs-olympian-city-plaza-shade?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/design-interiors/article/3316931/revitalising-hong-kongs-olympian-city-plaza-shade?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 09 Jul 2025 11:00:08 +0000 Charmaine Chan Charmaine Chan Visitors to the Pantheon often leave with tangible souvenirs – a Roman coin, a pendant of its famous dome, a model of the ancient architectural marvel. But Singaporean architect Lim Koon Park, founder of Park + Associates, took home something more profound: a feeling of oneness with nature. “What really attracts you when you enter is the oculus open to the sky,” he recalls of his family’s excursions to the temple-turned-church in Rome, Italy. Through the circular hole puncturing the Pantheon’s... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/design-interiors/article/3316929/singapores-first-3d-printed-house-out-there-yet-introverted?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/design-interiors/article/3316929/singapores-first-3d-printed-house-out-there-yet-introverted?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 08 Jul 2025 04:45:08 +0000 Adele Brunner Adele Brunner In 2022, when Kenzo and Lynn Ng met woodworker Filip Winiewicz and asked him to make “everything” for their new 2,100 sq ft, two-storey home, they weren’t joking. The facade and basic shell of the three-bedroom house in the northern New Territories had been finished when a developer sold it to them but still to come were most of the interior details. Together with Winiewicz, of Hardwood HK, the Ngs stepped in and altered the trajectory of the home’s design, departing from the developer’s... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/design-interiors/article/3314700/how-handcrafted-wood-creates-rustic-vibes-hong-kong-home?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/design-interiors/article/3314700/how-handcrafted-wood-creates-rustic-vibes-hong-kong-home?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 17 Jun 2025 10:15:07 +0000 Peta Tomlinson Peta Tomlinson Building with wood is as much about feelings as aesthetics. Upcycled trees are warm to the touch, pleasant on the nose and, as a biophilic material, psychologically soothing. Hong Kong might be bucking a global movement back to timber construction, but inside their concrete towers, some residents are finding that designing with wood transports them to a place of calm. Professional musician Kelvin Leung became so attached to his alma mater, King’s College, in Sai Ying Pun, that he had his wedding... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/design-interiors/article/3313215/wood-may-just-be-next-quiet-luxury-trend-hong-kong-homes?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/design-interiors/article/3313215/wood-may-just-be-next-quiet-luxury-trend-hong-kong-homes?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 11 Jun 2025 03:00:08 +0000 Manica Tiglao Manica Tiglao For medical doctors Jade Li and Stanton Ho, home needed to be more than just a place to sleep – it had to be a space that supported recovery and connection. And it had to be calm. Their newly renovated 900 sq ft flat in Kowloon Tong is exactly that. Designed by interior designer Joyce Taufer as a quiet, minimalist retreat, the apartment reflects their need for order and comfort after long, often unpredictable workdays. The two-bedroom, one-bathroom flat is also a return to Ho’s roots – he grew... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/design-interiors/article/3313579/newlywed-doctors-prescribe-themselves-cosy-kowloon-tong-haven?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/design-interiors/article/3313579/newlywed-doctors-prescribe-themselves-cosy-kowloon-tong-haven?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 10 Jun 2025 00:00:09 +0000 Peta Tomlinson Peta Tomlinson In 2018, after 15 years in Hong Kong, Briton Alice Fortescue heard her ancestral roots calling when a perfect storm drew her, her husband, Robert Derry, and their two Hong Kong-born children back to the family estate, Ebrington Manor. “The idea had always been to build a business [in Hong Kong] and sell it,” says Fortescue, who inherited the honorific “Lady” from her father, Charles Fortescue, 8th Earl Fortescue. In fact, the couple, who moved to Hong Kong in 2003, had built two successful... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/design-interiors/article/3312320/how-lady-manor-renovated-her-cotswold-property-be-home-and-business?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/design-interiors/article/3312320/how-lady-manor-renovated-her-cotswold-property-be-home-and-business?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 03 Jun 2025 10:00:13 +0000 Peta Tomlinson Peta Tomlinson Sometimes, serendipity smiles. When a long-time expat family were looking to upgrade the Jardine’s Lookout apartment they had lived in for years, a “gem” of a duplex in the same neighbourhood happened to come on the market. For the family of two professionals and two teenage sons, the 2,150 sq ft, two-level apartment had many advantages: four bedrooms, four bathrooms, a study, plus a rare outdoor terrace. The main draw, however, was two living areas, one on each level. The ground floor’s... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/design-interiors/article/3311558/family-upcycles-1970s-jardines-lookout-duplex?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/design-interiors/article/3311558/family-upcycles-1970s-jardines-lookout-duplex?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 27 May 2025 05:00:09 +0000 Christopher DeWolf Christopher DeWolf It has been at least three years since Norman Foster was last in Hong Kong. “I’m overdue for a visit,” says the renowned British architect, who turns 90 next Sunday. The Pritzker Prize laureate has a long history with the city. In the mid-1980s, his design for the HSBC headquarters in Central propelled him to international fame, thanks to its innovative modular construction, inside-out structure and early focus on environmental sustainability. In the late 90s, Foster’s design for the Hong Kong... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/design-interiors/article/3311478/architect-norman-foster-who-designed-hsbcs-hong-kong-hq-reflects-his-legacy?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/design-interiors/article/3311478/architect-norman-foster-who-designed-hsbcs-hong-kong-hq-reflects-his-legacy?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 23 May 2025 09:00:16 +0000 Peta Tomlinson Peta Tomlinson Australian couple Kwai and Jason Chang took a “when in Rome” approach to buying their Hong Kong flat. Together with daughter Emily, 15, the family has “toggled” between Hong Kong and Melbourne, Australia, since 2018, initially renting in Repulse Bay on the scenic south side. “We felt we were living very much an expat life, and wanted to reconnect with the real Hong Kong,” says Kwai. The vibrancy of the city beckoned for Kwai, a homemaker, and Jason, a private equity investor, who settled on... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/design-interiors/article/3310491/how-1980s-mid-levels-apartment-became-chic-family-home?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/design-interiors/article/3310491/how-1980s-mid-levels-apartment-became-chic-family-home?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 20 May 2025 01:00:14 +0000 Christopher DeWolf Christopher DeWolf When Lofter Group was founded by entrepreneur Carol Chow Pui-yin in 2012, its focus was on renovating old industrial properties. Now it has just unveiled its first new-build office tower, One Bedford Place, with an interior design that references the heritage of its surroundings in Tai Kok Tsui. And for that, the upstart property developer tapped architect Frank Leung and his design firm, via. The brief was to create a memorable series of common spaces within the 26-storey tower, designed by Ben... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/design-interiors/article/3309652/inside-one-bedford-place-architects-nostalgic-tribute-old-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/design-interiors/article/3309652/inside-one-bedford-place-architects-nostalgic-tribute-old-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 13 May 2025 03:00:08 +0000 Manica Tiglao Manica Tiglao Tucked into a high-rise building in the heart of scenic Repulse Bay, a 2,060 sq ft flat revamped by Hong Kong design firm Studiossoo offers a tactile study in restraint and refinement. Moody and masculine, the one-bedroom flat affords space for the client’s many passions, including music and entertaining. “We gave the client a very clean and blank canvas because we know that they like to collect [furniture],” says Studiossoo founder and creative director Samantha Soo. Soo’s client, who works in... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/design-interiors/article/3308841/subtle-elegance-heart-hong-kongs-repulse-bay?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/design-interiors/article/3308841/subtle-elegance-heart-hong-kongs-repulse-bay?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 06 May 2025 00:00:12 +0000 Peta Tomlinson Peta Tomlinson It was architect Arnold Wong Yok-fai’s lucky day when he and his wife, Grace, moved into a harbour-view Tai Hang apartment just before Lunar New Year in 2024. Watching fireworks from the living room invited good fortune into their home, he says, and the “birth year” of the building – 1989 – was the same as his own, which augurs well, according to feng shui beliefs. “It was some sort of fate,” says Wong, co-founder of ARTA Architects, whose projects include installations made with recycled... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/design-interiors/article/3307925/family-flat-tai-hang-luxury-hotel-twist?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/design-interiors/article/3307925/family-flat-tai-hang-luxury-hotel-twist?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 29 Apr 2025 07:00:09 +0000