Design Description:
In the course of MOD's trajectory, we have steered the studio towards a focus on lifestyle and hospitality innovation, designing a range of commercially-driven projects which have in common, the need for innovation and market distinctiveness. These explorations are undertaken with some calculated risks, deviating at times from conventionally-accepted design cues.
Because of this, residential projects are a rarity for us. Most homeowners would rather take the path well-trodden, preferring widely accepted living patterns and design cues. However for the Angullia Park Residence, our interest was piqued by the client’s desire to innovate. Paired with his keen attention to detail, we were keen to work with the ideal patron and collaborator.
The project is situated on a high floor of an exclusive condominium adjacent to Singapore’s main shopping belt Orchard Road. The apartment’s key feature is a grand and slightly intimidating double-height glass-encased living room space. We felt it was less of a space to inhabit, and more of a space to impress, and our immediate instinct was to subvert this convention of overt luxury and instead to turn it into a more contemplative and symbolic space.
Conceptually, we designed it as an abstracted “outdoor” garden galleria, fronting a facade of the “house in the sky". The two-storey interior wall was re-designed as an external timber “facade” of a house. Passing the Garden Galleria and walking through the timber “facade", the experience of the “house” is layered along a timber lined Central Spine. The Central Spine is raised off the ground and one has to step off or onto it to move through the apartment. Wrapped in rich timber veneer, this spine anchors all the different spaces into a continuous experience. Immediately following the Garden Galleria, The Family Hearth (living, dining and kitchen) is designed for the intimacy of family interactions, not the hosting of extravagant parties. The Family Hearth is followed by ever-increasing levels of privacy with the kids’ and parents’ cocoons positioned ever-deeper along the Central Spine.
In terms of details, the Garden Galleria features the “SHY” light installation by Bec Brittain. Selected for its quiet dynamism and abstracted “tree-like” quality, specialist installers from the US spent 3 days painstakingly installing it above a bed of white gravel. Key materials include stained sandblasted oak veneer for the central spine, natural oak veneer for the facade and sandalwood stone for the public space floors.
Client Testimonial:
"Colin and his team managed to come out with an elegant solution in creating a house-like ambience within an apartment. Unlike conventional designs which focus on materials or feature walls to be decorative, their proposal consists of tweaking the layout slightly, introducing design elements that connected the whole space, curating a geometric artwork that gives the apartment a whole new outlook. I must say I was very fortunate to have the team from MOD to help me crystallise the idea of making the apartment feel unique. The team didn’t just tick all the boxes in my brief, they went above and beyond my imagination. I hope this design could go on to inspire other like-minded apartment owners. I would highly recommend Ministry of Design to anyone who is after something different, something extraordinary."
— Adam Wu