A Singapore Apartment That Prioritises Intimacy and Intelligent Design
Wynk Collaborative’s design approach was sometimes counter-intuitive, but has resulted in some of the home’s most distinguishing features
When Wynk Collaborative helms a home, you can expect it to be a special project. Better known for shaping Alchemist’s coffee shops and Ginlee’s retail stores, the Singapore-based design practice is highly selective when it comes to residential commissions. ‘We don’t typically take on homes,’ says co-founder Hon Kit Leong. ‘But every now and then, we design for our friends, because we want them to have the best spaces possible.’
That closeness to the clients — a couple behind a branding and design studio — shows in this compact 90-square-metre apartment in Singapore’s River Valley neighbourhood. While many designers would have opted for an open plan, Wynk instead crafted two distinct living and dining rooms to imbue the residence with a confiding intimacy, a quality that’s dear to the owners’ hearts. ‘It may seem counter-intuitive, but creating that threshold between the communal spaces actually adds to the richness and depth of the long hallway, particularly when you enter from the diagonal entryway,’ says Leong.
The transition is marked by a travertine-trimmed archway that lowers the lofty ceiling datum to a more human scale while creating two artful dwelling spaces, each with its own character. What distinguishes the living room are enveloping oak panels that craft a cocoon-like hideaway, accompanied by the gentle gurgle of a nearby swimming pool. There’s more than meets the eye: every panel has been scrupulously sized to align with the width of the main bedroom door on the same wall, an unassuming detail that centres the eye and settles the heart.
The same intention cascades through the custom furnishings. Working with makers, locally and abroad, the owners went the extra mile to conceive everything from scratch, from designing the silhouettes to hand-picking the upholstery. The landscape painting that anchors the space is equally personal. ‘We were fascinated by the idea that our home sits on Pulau Saigon, once a heart-shaped island before it was joined to the riverbank,’ says owner Bin Hua Yaw. ‘We painted the foliage to bring that history to life, complete with deep blues to add to the warmth of the room.’ One’s home is an anchorage that shapes how we remember ourselves, and every texture and gesture here embodies that spirit.
A similar atmospheric palette shades the dining room, most prominently in the burgundy ceiling. Though initially hesitant about the colour, the owners have come to appreciate how instinctively it sets the mood. Soft lighting rounds out the cosy ambience, in elements such as the Castiglioni-design Taraxacum pendant from Flos and the considered task lighting above the pantry. Wynk’s expertise in designing cafes has stood them in good stead. Recognising the constraints of a small kitchen, the studio envisioned a generous pantry counter that has quickly become a social keystone. It’s a design masterstroke that frames the dining space and establishes the proportions of the custom travertine table and the adjacent console.
Subtle spherical motifs cultivate calm and tie the communal areas together, such as the raised dots of the Mutina Punto pantry tiles, the cutouts in the dining chairs and the circles that line the carpet’s borders. The boundary between these zones has also created elbow room for diffuse illumination and ceramic pieces made by the owners themselves. ‘These corners allow them to light the space in more interesting and flexible ways, while giving them varied spaces to layer their home with mementos,’ says Wynk co-founder Jian Xin Si. ‘The couple love creating, so these nooks allow them to do just that.’
Wynk’s indelible mark on the residence doesn’t lie in the vivid colour and material palette alone, but also in how the studio has gone beyond meeting the owners’ functional needs. Every small detail has been carefully considered, building a meaningful home that allows their rituals and passions to unfold gently with time. Yaw, a year after moving in, puts it perfectly: ‘The most remarkable thing is how they’ve turned all the apartment’s shortcomings or limitations into the best parts.’
Text by Joseph Koh
Images by Offvices
