Balancing Act
Wallpaper|April 2023
Architect lan Chee welcomes us into his Singaporean home, where past and present cohabit in perfect equilibrium
By Daven. Photography by Wu Khoog
Balancing Act

You experience a tremendous sense of dislocation upon entering Ian Chee’s apartment in Singapore’s Tiong Bahru, an area known for its listed art deco buildings. The first impulse is to pause at the door, and then step back outside to check your sense of depth and perception, for it hardly seems possible that the relatively nondescript frontage – a white low-rise apartment block built, like the rest of the neighbourhood, in the mid-1930s by the Singapore Improvement Trust as a test case for public housing – could contain such a vast and, well, completely unexpected interior. This must be what it’s like to step into the Tardis. When Chee was apartment hunting a few years ago, the Architectural Association-trained architect found himself drawn to Tiong Bahru as much for its dominant architectural style as for the proportions of the interiors, with their spacious rooms and high ceilings. ‘I was downsizing as I was spending more time in Bali, so I had a few criteria. The possibility of a garden courtyard was key and I also needed to be able to fit in my Steinway,’ he says. ‘I saw quite a few apartments, and they were all very different in size due to the uneven terrain.’

The 145 sq m ground floor apartment he eventually settled on ticked all the boxes,though there were a number of hurdles to overcome first, not least of which was to strip the space down to its bones. ‘The apartment was privatised in the late 1960s and the alterations dated from that period, with different mosaic flooring on different levels,’ Chee remembers. ‘Not much from the original building remained. Even the windows had been changed.’

Bu hikaye Wallpaper dergisinin April 2023 sayısından alınmıştır.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.

Bu hikaye Wallpaper dergisinin April 2023 sayısından alınmıştır.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.

WALLPAPER DERGISINDEN DAHA FAZLA HIKAYETümünü görüntüle
COOL RUNNINGS
Wallpaper

COOL RUNNINGS

Palace founder Lev Tanju is bringing his own unexpected brand of weirdness and love of eclectic mash-ups to Fila's new contemporary line

time-read
5 dak  |
January 2025
LIVING COLOUR
Wallpaper

LIVING COLOUR

Mexico's San Miguel de Allende is home to a bold young crowd of talent that's thriving off the city's brightly-hued heritage

time-read
5 dak  |
January 2025
STARS ASCENDING
Wallpaper

STARS ASCENDING

In a rapidly changing world, the route designers take to discover their calling is increasingly circuitous. We profile ten creatives forging their own paths to success

time-read
10+ dak  |
January 2025
SUITE DREAMS
Wallpaper

SUITE DREAMS

Cathay Pacific’s new aircraft interiors turn the inflight experience into an art form, upgrading the business-class cabin for the next generation of flyers

time-read
2 dak  |
January 2025
Brutal harmony
Wallpaper

Brutal harmony

The Escheresque Italian villa designed by Fausto Bontempi for sculptor Claudio Caffetto

time-read
3 dak  |
January 2025
LOCAL HERO
Wallpaper

LOCAL HERO

London studio Holloway Li’s recent makeover of Polish hotel Puro Poznan is right up our street

time-read
2 dak  |
January 2025
STAR TURNS
Wallpaper

STAR TURNS

An exhibition at Louvre Abu Dhabi unveils the stellar shortlist for this year's Richard Mille Art Prize

time-read
4 dak  |
January 2025
SCREEN GEM
Wallpaper

SCREEN GEM

A multifaceted residence in Beverly Hills puts the beauty of potentiality in the frame

time-read
3 dak  |
January 2025
SOFT SPOT
Wallpaper

SOFT SPOT

We've taken a shine to Bottega Veneta's collaboration with Flos on a special edition of a Gino Sarfatti lamp

time-read
1 min  |
January 2025
Between the lines
Wallpaper

Between the lines

Frequently drawing comparisons with Francis Bacon, painter George Rouy is gaining peer points for his use of classic techniques to distort the human form

time-read
4 dak  |
January 2025