Redesigning The Lofty Apartment

A family’s fond memories of their time in Shanghai influenced the redesign of their lofty apartment back home.

- Isabelle Tow

Space Two-storey walk-up apartment

Location Sembawang

Reno period 19 weeks

Home to A family of four

Budget $228k

After nearly a decade spent in Shanghai, the Tans were eager to resettle in their 1,500sq ft resale walk-up apartment in Sembawang. Stepping into the airy two-storey apartment, it is difficult to miss the home’s attractive attributes— the 1.5-metre double-volume living area slopes upwards to a point, the pitched ceiling a result of the unit being on the top floor. A clerestory window on the far side bestows generous natural light into the home.

The owners, Tony and Julie, wanted their apartment to be redesigned into a comfortable dwelling that adequately served their family’s needs, whilst keeping it primed for possible future plans to rent or sell. Their brief to space planner Ian Lai of Bowerman Interior Planning was twofold: infrastructural finetuning—to improve the acoustics, indoor air and light circulation of the home—and for the aesthetics, a tasteful infusion of oriental elements to reminisce their time in China.