Making Room

To resolve space constraints, this Taipei apartment was designed to resemble a "magic box", with "surprises" waiting behind different walls and doors.

- Sasha Gonzales

Located in Taipei’s financial district, within the iconic Xin-Yi residential skyscraper, is a high-end apartment designed by one of Taipei’s top interior designers, Celia Chu, Principal Designer of Celia Chu Design & Associates.

The apartment consists of a grand living space, a quiet room to relax in, an elegant dining room, a stylish master bedroom, a guest room, and a living room with floor-to-ceiling windows offering views of Taipei 101. It also boasts a range of beautiful features, including bespoke, full-height room divider doors, a freestanding flueless spherical fireplace, a curved finished wall in the master bedroom, and a freestanding bathtub and bespoke shelving in the master bathroom.

Inspired by a “magic box”

“I designed this apartment to resemble a ‘magic box’ of sorts, something that would help maximise the overall layout as well as appeal to the owner’s sense of adventure and need for flexibility,” says Chu, who is based in the Taiwanese capital.

For instance, the guest bedroom features hidden storage and a TV that can be fully concealed at night with a full-height sliding door. During the day, the open kitchen serves as the perfect breakfast spot, but after dark, it transforms into a whisky bar, complete with a wine shelf hidden behind a black hairline-tinted metal wall. The ambient lighting from the glass shelf further adds to the fashionable and modern feel of the room.

“Instead of replicating something from our portfolio, I customised the design of the apartment to suit the owner’s preferences and lifestyle. My goal was to offer a versatile living space that could be open-plan or zoned as required. By simply opening or closing different doors, the owner can create different layouts and spaces as he wishes,” she says.