A Singapore Home That Captures the Feeling of a Japanese Ryokan

Rather than recreate traditional Japanese interiors, the home draws on the atmosphere of ryokans and tea houses to create a calm and grounded retreat.

In Singapore, this apartment was designed as a calm retreat shaped by the atmosphere of traditional Japanese spaces. Rather than adopting a literal interpretation of Japanese design, Oblivion Lab drew inspiration from the experience of ryokans and tea houses, where emotion is created through restraint — through light, shadow, texture, proportion and the way natural materials age over time.

The design was informed by the homeowners’ travels in Japan and their desire for a quieter place to return to at the end of the day. Limewash, microcement, smoked wood, linen and porcelain create a softer, more tactile palette throughout the home, while natural light moves in from the balcony, shifting the textures and shadows across the spaces and changing the mood through the day.

The dining area takes cues from traditional Japanese dining spaces, raised slightly and softened by linen curtains for intimacy and separation, almost a small tea room set within the home. In the bedroom, the atmosphere becomes quieter and more introspective, with a deliberately simple palette and, since the owners are homebodies, no television. The bathroom draws inspiration from Japanese onsens, with timber wrapping the ceiling and walls. Rather than recreating Japan, the home captures a feeling carried back from travel and woven into everyday life.

Images by Marcus Lim