Milbank’s London Office by LSM Makes Return to Work Worth It

In early 2020, after months of anticipation, LSM had just completed the New York headquarters of international law firm Milbank when the pandemic forced staff to Zoom from home indefinitely. Nearly two years later, as restrictions eased, LSM unveiled Milbank’s London office at 100 Liverpool Street, the net-zero, amenities-packed, mixed-use anchor of the city’s revitalized Broadgate neighborhood. This time, however, things were different. Cube culture was out; remote work and 30-second commutes were in. What would it take to make folks embrace office life again?

In a word: “joy,” according to Milbank managing partner Julian Stait. The new workplace had to signal that, “People here are at the center of what we do.” To that end, says LSM founding partner and Interior Design Hall of Fame member Debra Lehman Smith, “We tailored every inch of the 100 Liverpool space to be active, energizing, and conducive to good work. It is very different from one’s home, and that is very intentional. This is an escape from home. With every detail we thought about what would make the client want to be here.”

Previously, Milbank’s London operations comprised 54,000 square feet split between four noncontiguous floors in two adjacent buildings in the Moorgate area. Since moving 1 mile east, the office’s 140 attorneys now occupy 90,000 square feet on two inter­connected floors, with spectacular views of St. Paul’s Cathedral.

How LSM Revamped Milbank’s London Office

The site sits adjacent to a cross-rail hub, which appealed to Milbank’s commitment to sustainability. In fact, the entire project was in many ways a large-scale recycling effort. Hopkins Architects created the L-shape base building by connecting two old structures with a rotunda topped by a glass canopy, then stripped the tired 1980’s cladding from the original and replaced it with an undulating glazed facade. Retaining 32 percent of the original steelwork and 49 percent of the concrete significantly reduced the embodied carbon in the new structure, and 99.8 percent of waste associated with the project’s construction was diverted from landfill.

LSM amplified and echoed the curvilinear vibe throughout the interior, from custom crescent-shape sofas and dimpled workstation corners to a contrasting marble floor border that highlights the organic geometry as it snakes around the curvy floor plate. However, when it came to laying out workstations and enclosed offices along the perimeter of the long floor plate, Lehman Smith and team relied on regular geometry for efficient space planning.

The upper floors of the building were progressively stepped back to reduce massing from the fine grain of the urban fabric and create a series of planted terraces. “The terraces and the ability to work and meet within a garden setting were major factors in the selection of this site,” Milbank partner Suhrud Mehta explains. Since the law firm was the lead tenant, leasing the top two floors, eight and nine, LSM was able to tailor the building to the client’s needs while it was still under construction. That included adding and relocating doors for greater access to the rooftop English garden as well as installing an electrical infrastructure to power special outdoor events. LSM also moved building services away from key terrace views and expanded the HVAC and ventilation systems to accommodate a robust, round-the-clock food-service program.

The Office Design Features Bespoke Details

The two most dramatic bespoke moves were cutting a new slab opening for an interconnecting stairway in the atrium and then, with the help of art consultant Patrick Morey-Burrows, commissioning three large-scale, site-specific pieces by contemporary artists. “Each of them is a brilliant star!” proclaims Lehman Smith, whose signature has long been creating workplaces to embrace amazing art.

As staff and visitors enter the atrium and make their way to conference and office spaces, they pass through and around Paul Morrison’s Cyclorama. His overscale, monochromatic botanical motifs encircle the curved walls on both levels and play off the black-framed glazing in a way that is reminiscent of a Victorian garden conservatory.

Art Installations Add Visual Intrigue

Another focal point that draws circulation to key spaces is Idris Kahn’s Integration of Hope, 2021, which covers an entire rounded wall on the eighth floor. Composed of 15 layers of hand-mixed gesso—consisting of slate and marble dust, Prussian blue, and ultramarine pigments—the result is a violet tone so intense that it can only be described as sonorous. What looks like a color study from afar takes on new meaning as one draws closer and realizes that Khan has used oil paint to hand-stamp overlapping words and phrases that express his ideas about diversity and inclusion into an abstract, universal language.

Out on the terrace sits Jeppe Hein’s Sine Curve I, a sculptural installation of head-height reflective panels arranged in a meandering formation. As the viewer moves about, their own reflection bounces around, shifting the focus from themselves to the London skyline, to the office behind them, and back. It’s a good reminder to stay focused in a world that is at sometimes unfamiliar and disorienting—and to stop and smell the roses on the terrace before getting back to work.

Inside Milbank’s London Office

LSM: rebecca montesi; mario degisi; yun gui; donnie morphy; mark andre; evie soileau; shahram ameryoun; james black mcleish

fisher marantz stone: lighting consultant

art source: art consultant

akt ii: struc­tural engineer

hilson moran: mep

unifor: millwork

specialist joinery group: metalwork

structure tone: general contractor

spinneybeck: chair, sofa upholstery (atrium)

knoll: side table

wilkhahn: chairs (conference room), table (meeting room)

quadrant: carpet (conference room, meeting room)

newmat: ceilings

mechoshade: paneling

cassina: table (breakout)

interstuhl: chair (office)

vorwerk: carpet tile (office area)

sas: ceiling system

Ultrafabrics: ultraleather

campo­longhi: flooring

ergonom: furniture supplier

dulux: paint

Restaurant Born in Singapore Reflects The Philosophy of Its Chef

Restaurant Born, one of the starriest recent additions to Singapore’s already dazzling fine-dining firmament, is the first solo outing for chef Zor Tan, a young master of contemporary fusion cuisine that marries Chinese traditions to classic French techniques. Adding to Born’s allure is its historic location, the Jinrikisha Station, built in 1903 for the licensing and inspection of the city’s rickshaws, which numbered more than 20,000 at the time. After the iconic vehicles were banned for humanitarian reasons in 1947, the handsome, two-story brick edifice served other municipal functions until 1989 when, its envelope protected by conservation ordinances, it was sold to developers and has since housed a variety of businesses.

Zor, who grew up in a fishing village in Malaysia, chose the venue for its architecture, location, and history. “Rickshaw operators worked hard,” he says. “For someone who also started from humble beginnings, I saw the building as a platform for hard work and dreams.” Since entering the restaurant business at 17, he has made his way up to become one of the most accomplished culinary talents in the region. Having spent more than a decade working for Taiwanese super chef André Chiang, Zor is known for plates that are as appealing to the eye as to the palate. To set an appropriate stage for his venture, he hired New York-born designer Alan Barr whose firm, Greymatters, specializes in hospitality, including a string of Michelin-starred eateries throughout Asia.

Graymatters Creates a Simple Yet Complex Design for Restaurant Born 

After college, Barr worked in residential and corporate projects in his hometown until, in 1999, he had the opportunity to tackle his first restaurant, the Red Cat, a come-as-you-are Manhattan boîte popular with the city’s creative class. It whet his appetite for the F&B sector and drew the attention of a recruiter for an Asian firm that was starting a hospitality division. “I wasn’t looking for a job,” Barr says, “but I flew to Singapore and a month later was living there.” Today, Greymatters has offices there and in Bangkok.

What Zor asked of the firm was simple and complex at the same time: a warm, sophisticated space that felt like home. “He sought a neutral color palette and natural materials, as well as accents of lush green” and subtle references to China, Barr recalls. The complexity lay in capturing the chef’s nature-based circle-of-life philosophy, which informs his cooking as well as his conduct and, as Zor point out, is reflected in the name of his restaurant: “‘Born’ encapsulates feelings of happiness, excitement, and great anticipation—the emotions of waiting for the arrival of a baby,” the father of two young children explains. “You can say it represents the birth of a brand-new me, the decision to leave my mentor chef, and the momentous step to start my own venture.”

No less complicated were the physical challenges presented by the site, a 4,300-square-foot triangle located at the prow of the wedge-shape building. By the time Barr began working on the project, the station’s interior details had long since disappeared, but the structural bones remained, including a double-height, glass-roofed atrium with galleries of handsome arches running along two sides. “We wanted to embrace the vaulted architecture but also create the cozy intimacy chef Zor requested,” says Barr, who covered “ugly” upper internal windows with more decorative arches. The glazed ceiling let in too much direct sunlight, so he installed another layer of frosted glass below it, which also helps mute the often-overwhelming sound of heavy tropical rain.

Art Meets Art Deco Influences at Restaurant Born

Light-filled and airy, the peaceful space, which has the ambiance of an open, arcaded courtyard, serves as the 27-seat main dining room, with banquettes and tables tucked into its arched niches. A couple of theatrical touches enliven the pervasive calm, however. The first, floating overhead, is an enormous paper sculpture by the Dutch artist Peter Gentenaar. Inspired by a dragon—the traditional Chinese symbol of strength, good luck, and hope—the roiling form also evokes clouds, swirling leaves, or sea creatures. “For me, it suggests that all things in nature connect to one another,” Zor says of the installation’s showstopping effect, which is amplified by a smoked gray mirror hanging above it. Theatrics of another kind are offered by the open kitchen, which occupies the room’s third wall, its lower ceramic tile–clad portion acting as a giant backsplash for the chefs’ hot line. The upper wall is covered with white-lacquered panels embossed with a large-scale bas-relief inspired by Chinese art deco design. Along with its decorative function, the paneling hides exhaust ducting.

The art deco motif is echoed in reception’s fluted cast-stone desk and the custom artwork in the 10-seat private dining room. Other intimate areas include a small bar cocooned by a sculptural canopy, a six-seat lounge, and a pair of side-by-side cigar rooms that cleverly split a two-door archway between them, one half for each. All the restaurant’s quietly sumptuous furniture and fittings are Greymatter’s custom designs fabricated locally. Comfortable yet elegant, the chairs, sofas, tables, and cabinetry no less than the architecture, cuisine, and service embody chef Zor’s hope that, for his customers, Born is an acronym for “the best of right now.”

wookie park; sofia silva; ken chak: greymatters

yang ah kang and sons: custom furniture workshop

foundry k: general contractor

carlisle and co.: mural (cigar room)

florim: wall tile (main dining)

apaiser: custom desk (reception)

goodrich global: rug (private dining)

synergraphic design: custom sliding doors

caesarstone: solid surfacing

pierre frey: upholstery fabric, curtain fabric

Interface: floor tile

dulux: paint

Studio Bright Transforms a Historic Melbourne Property into a Cozy Family Home

It can be challenging to make a true family home in an urban environment. That was the brief for Studio Bright, which created a refuge for a couple with two young girls in a dense and gritty part of Melbourne. The clients had acquired a small Victorian terrace house that a previous resident, architect Mick Jörgensen, had modified in the 1980s by adding an extension; as a result, the interior detailing, from ornate cornices to modernist wood beams, spanned the centuries. Led by director Melissa Bright, the studio transformed the structure by adding two new wings—one with a roof deck—that better support the homeowners’ lifestyle.

Outdated service buildings on the site, including a shed and a garage, were removed to make way for the additions and an interstitial courtyard. The larger of the two extensions is a wedge-shape two-story volume of painted brickwork, its upper level wrapped in brown-painted metal mesh; accessible through a new entrance, the wing’s ground floor houses the kitchen and dining area and the primary living area/lounge. One flight up is the primary suite with a roof deck that boasts views of a tall elm. The second new volume, on the opposite side of the main courtyard, contains a home office and a bike room.

The original Victorian building became a family zone—complete with bedrooms for the girls and their own hangout space—that can be closed off via large sliding doors. “The configuration makes for connected family living but supports separation,” Bright explains.

The architect made careful decisions in how she joined the Victorian, the previous addition, and the new spaces. This feat was done with a steady hand that made sweeping structural changes to the layout in the existing portion. For example, the circulation route in the original building was moved from the south side to the north in order to give the girls’ bedrooms sunlight and views of the courtyard. The Jörgensen beams were removed but only partially, allowing for higher ceilings while also nodding to the home’s history. “We thought it was nicer to let all of these layers come through,” Bright explains. “Three eras sit together as a cohesive whole.” In this way, memory of the home’s past becomes a part of its present day.

grazia and co.: custom swivel chairs, custom daybed, custom coffee table (lounge)

instyle: leather upholstery

warwick: daybed fabric

l a a l: wall lights

truss forte: steel mesh (exterior)

dulux: steel mesh paint

nood co.: sink (kids’ bathroom)

cabinet smith: custom cabinetry

academy tiles: tiles

zuster furniture: sideboard (kids’ living space)

snelling studio: table, stools

jardan: sofa

muuto through living edge: chairs (kitchen)

inax through artedomus: tiles (primary bathroom)

lindsey wherrett ceramics: custom ceramic basin

duralloy: custom shower screen powder coating

australian sustainable hardwoods: wall panels, joinery

artefact industries: ceiling lights

brodware through e&s: sink fittings

artemide through stylecraft: wall lights (bathrooms)

eckersley garden architecture: landscape architect

meyer consulting: structural engineer

provanbuilt: builder

For the Ace Hotel Sydney, Flack Studio Creates an Authentic Australian Experience

Founded in 1999, the Ace Hotel Group has claimed an enviable slice of the hospitality pie with a chain of high-profile luxury boutique properties aimed at a creative clientele. Since opening its first location—a renovated former Salvation Army halfway house in Seattle—the brand has specialized in transforming rescued buildings of some urban significance into state-of-the-art facilities. The group currently comprises nine hotels, including the latest, which opened in May in Sydney.

The interior of the new property was designed by Flack Studio, a small firm based in Melbourne, best known for residential and retail spaces. Surprisingly, the studio had never worked on a hotel before. “The scale of the job was more than we were used to,” founder and principal David Flack acknowledges. “But I was confident that we could do it. There aren’t many hotel companies that I would want to work for, but Ace is clearly one of them.”

Flack joined the renovation project early on. Bates Smart, one of Australia’s oldest architectural firms, was responsible for gutting the Tyne Building, a 10-story brick structure dating to the early 20th century in the city’s Surry Hills suburb. The architects incorporated the exterior masonry walls into an 18-story, glass-and-steel tower that now houses 257 guest rooms and suites, but “there really wasn’t anything much to salvage of the interior,” Flack observes.

Although the Tyne was not officially landmarked, the designer wanted to pay homage not only to the building but also the fascinating history of the neighborhood where, in 1788, the recently arrived British discovered a deposit of pottery clay and built Australia’s first kiln. Within 40 years, Jonathan Leak, a transported convict, established his own pottery works there and was soon cranking out bricks, tiles, bottles, and domestic earthenware. In 1916, Leak’s factory was razed to be replaced by the Tyne Building—originally a pharmaceutical warehouse, later a garment workshop, and then a school for underprivileged kids. Over the years, Surry Hills was home to Chinese immigrants in the gold rush era, dangerous razor gangs in the 1920’s, bootleggers in the ’30’s, boho artists in the ’60’s, and a burgeoning LGBTQ population in the ’70’s, who established the renowned annual Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras. Flack wanted to reference all of it.

Early on, he decided that he would stick to straightforward industrial materials used in both traditional and innovative ways. These include the existing brick, along with board-formed concrete, terrazzo and oak flooring, solid woods and veneers, and a variety of metals. There is also stone, such as honed Rosso Francia marble from Italy for the main staircase. Acoustic ceiling panels are used to line guest-room walls—not so much for soundproofing purposes (even though rooms are equipped with turntables, a selection of vinyl records, and, yes, guitars) as for aesthetic reasons: “It’s a rudimentary material, not fancy,” Flack explains, “but it has a beautiful depth and texture to it.”

As for the color palette, Flack chose a singular combination of earthy tans and ochres, burnt oranges, a variety of greens, and, most surprisingly, purple. The inspiration came from the landscape paintings of Albert Namatjira, one of the country’s best-known 20th-century artists of indigenous ancestry. Both Flack and Mark Robinson, his partner in work and life, collect modern art, which plays a large part in the design. Commissioned pieces in many forms by a diverse group of living Australian artists populate the property. The front desk, for example, comprises a multihued patchwork of variously sized ceramic bricks—a gobsmacking installation by James Lemon. “I’m not afraid of using color,” Flack happily concedes.

The furnishings are a mix of vintage pieces—both anonymous and pedigreed—and custom designs. The lobby lounge features Paul Frankl–style mid-century rattan swivel chairs surrounded by bespoke banquettes upholstered in heavily ruched leather. “I do that with leather a lot,” the designer notes. “I think it makes the seating look more inviting.” The lobby restaurant booths, upholstered in similar fashion, are joined by Mart Stam’s classic 1931 tubular-steel chairs, now manufactured by Thonet, their cantilever frames painted fire-engine red. Guest rooms and suites are equally eclectic, with Mario Bellini’s iconic 1977 leather Cab chairs pulling up to Charles and Ray Eames’s round oak-top tables in some of them. Most of the hotel’s striking light fixtures, which include columnlike sconces of aged-finish perforated brass, are custom Flack designs.

Staying “on brand” was a top concern for Flack. “Ace had rules,” he reports. “But they also allowed that rules were made to be broken.” He eventually determined that the chain’s trademark was not so much a look as a feeling. “An Ace hotel wants to engage people on an aesthetic and social level, to encourage them to congregate and interact with others, both guests and locals,” he concludes. “I wanted this hotel to be an authentic Australian experience without losing the slightly renegade history of the neighborhood. In my view, Australia’s greatest strength is our diversity.”

Flack Studio: Mark Robinson

bates smart: architect of record

plant charmer: landscaping consultants

studio ongarato: custom graphics

electrolight: lighting consultant

marques interiors: custom furniture workshop

signorino: stonework

corsi & nicolai: flooring (reception)

akari: lamp (reception), pendant fixtures (lounge, restaurant)

alustain: stair railings (reception, pre-event)

rms traders: wallcovering (reception, library)

dcw editions: sconce (lounge)

flos: ceiling fixtures

nsw leather co.: banquette upholstery

through casser maison: armchairs (pre-event)

ramler: table (meeting room)

westbury textiles: curtain fabric (meeting room, restaurant)

living edge: side chairs (meeting room, conference room)

thonet: chairs (restaurant)

woodstock resources: flooring (restaurant, library)

house of bamboo: wallcovering (library)

warwick textiles: curtain fabric (guest rooms)

stansborough: custom blankets

parisi: tubs, tub fittings (bathrooms)

reece: sinks

mark tuckey: custom stools

artedomus: terra-cotta floor tile (bathroom)

electrolight: custom lighting

halcyon lake: carpeting

terrazzo australian marble: floor tile

classic ceramics; tiento: bathroom wall tile

knauf: acoustic paneling

bishop master finishes: cement render

Kvadrat Maharam: upholstery fabric

instyle: upholstery leather

dulux: paint

Duet Gives an Old-School Sydney Residence a Youthful Update

As far as first projects go, this five-bedroom house set on a half-acre plot complete with pool and tennis court is an undoubtedly impressive one, both for its scale and for the design freedom extended to interior designers Shannon Shlom and Dominique Brammah. Collaborating for the first time as co-founders of the Sydney studio Duet, the pair worked symbiotically to transform the jaded Tudor-style dwelling in suburban Strathfield, Australia, into a fresh-faced home suited to modern living. The clients, George and Michleen, had purchased the sizeable two-story residence with the desire to create a family-friendly environment for their growing brood. George, a property developer and frequent traveler, also wanted the interior to reflect the luxury hotel aesthetic he appreciated on the road, and to leverage his company’s team of contractors and consultants. Other than that, he gave Duet carte blanche. “This was a true trust exercise where we had complete autonomy to run with our ideas based on the initial brief,” Shlom recalls.

Although the house, built in 1916, had been through a previous renovation and addition, “it was formulaic and lacked heart and soul,” Shlom explains. “The original spaces were bland while the more recently added contemporary spaces were a pastiche of confused styles.” The duo’s initial site visit and floor plan review sparked an idea they realized would improve the flow of foot traffic while also instating spatial logic: relocating the staircase from the entry hall to a more central spot closer to the layout’s actual midpoint. The new stair, a twisty spiral with Carrara marble treads, neatly divides the plan into two zones: a formal one comprising the living room, the guest powder room, and the study, and a more casual, free-flowing wing housing the family room, kitchen/dining area, butler’s pantry, and an additional half-bath. “Those adjustments honored the proportions of the original rooms while allowing for the creation of a generous, open, contemporary space,” Brammah notes. Further bridging old and new are architectural details including custom wall paneling, large-scale dentil molding, parquet de Versailles oak flooring, and vintage lighting—“elements that acknowledge the history of the house yet allowed for a new language that didn’t feel like a replication,” she continues. “It’s an approach that encapsulates the essence of the project: a deeply layered scheme that can continue to evolve with the family over its lifetime.”

Other major interventions to the property include a pergola with an outdoor kitchen and bath, a freestanding tennis/guest house courtside, a rear extension encompassing an enlarged showcase garage (home to George’s vintage car collection) and a game room in which the couple can host late-night card games without disrupting family life in the main house. Indeed, the entire property is both party minded yet practical, down to the kitchen.

“The family loves entertaining—but not the idea of guests getting elbow-deep in grease during cleanup after a long Sunday lunch,” Shlom says. So, Duet conceived a double kitchen: a showpiece cookery paired with a hardworking tucked-away butler’s pantry that houses a second set of appliances. The latter functions as the day-to-day meal-prep area, which freed Duet to push the design parameters of the public-facing side, oriented around a commandingly contemporary two-tone stone island that stands sculpture-like.

For furnishings, Shlom and Brammah sourced far and wide. “Lighting was an important part of bringing a worldly, well-traveled feel to the design, with many eras represented so as not to create a prescriptive style,” Shlom says. The showstopper Lindsey Adelman Drop pendant above the dining room table, in a patinated copper finish, “made our hearts sing,” Brammah says, pointing out how it elegantly twists and turns in the breeze when sliders to the adjacent outdoor living spaces are open. Duet also commissioned myriad custom pieces. In the primary bedroom, for instance, the headboard, bedside tables, pendants, checkerboard broadloom carpet, bed linens, and silk window treatments are all bespoke.

As for the young members of the household, who range from six months to 11 years old, their sanctums are at once age-appropriate yet designed with longevity in mind, featuring colors and finishes sure to stand the test of time. Take the playroom: The ground-floor space, formerly an uptight formal room, is now an ode to a big-top tent, treated to a vibrant mix of terracotta ceiling stripes and circular elements ranging from the sofa cushions to the area rug.

Equally playful, albeit in another vein entirely, is George’s study. Mirror-backed built-in shelving showcases his prized whiskey collection alongside vintage treasures. An added grace note, the designers specified Piero Fornasetti’s classic Teatro wallpaper, featuring an audience of theater-goers, “so George would always be in good company working late into the night,” Brammah says with a laugh. Who needs alone time?

Duet: Lead Consultants

AJH+: architecture

Studio Rewild: landscape consultant

Megan Morton: editorial styling

Sophia Kaplan: editorial florals

Globewest: coffee tables (family room, living room), table, chairs (kitchen), sofa, side table (cubby), bedside tables (guest bedroom, daughter’s bedroom)

Poltrona Frau through Cult Design: pouf (family room)

Pulpo through Domo: floor lamp

Cole & Sons through Iconradford Wallpaper: wallpaper (study)

Cassina through Cult Design: desk

Fourth Street Home: egg sculpture

Through Mercer & Lewis: amphora pots

joel escalona through adorno design: ceramic vase

through james said: vintage wall light (study), vintage chandelier (living room)

gubi through cult design: chair (study), lamp (playroom)

the visuals: plinth (stair), sculptures (stair, living room)

deemah stone: stone flooring (stair, foyer)

lighting collective: pendant light (playroom)

simple studio: window treatments

murobond: accent paint (playroom, guest bedroom)

house of orange: bench (playroom), console (living room), lamps (guest bedroom)

through smith street bazaar: vintage pendant light (living room)

through tigmi trading: lounge chair, footstool

jetmaster: fireplace

Lindsey adelman studio: pendant light (kitchen)

grazia & co.: stools

mcmullen & co.: vase

porter’s: cabinetry paint (kitchen, butler’s pantry)

granite & marble works: countertop marble (kitchen, daughter’s bathroom), backsplash (tennis house)

through 1st dibs: pendant (foyer)

liwans through nicholas & alistair: vintage console

zip water: specialty tap (butler’s pantry)

onsite supply & design: backsplash

WK: countertop stone

tim roodenrys: rug

&tradition through cult design: lamp (cubby)

the society inc.: wallpaper

ascraft: wallpaper (primary bedroom)

fibonacci stone through onsite supply and design: stone tile (tennis house)

honoré through tigmi trading: pendant light

thonet: stools

julie neill through montauk lighting co.: pendant light (guest bedroom)

s a s veer: artwork

the stitching project: bedcover

dulux: paint

we love parquet: flooring

perrin & rowe through english tapware company: sink fittings

Tappeti: custom rugs

heritage tile co.: terrazzo (kids’ baths)

surface gallery: wall tiles (kids’ baths)

snelling: wall lights (kids’ baths)

NC Design & Architecture Goes Into the Woods to Envision a Residential Tower in Hong Kong

Forest huts and woodland lodges are the inspiration behind the interiors of Timber House, a residential tower in Hong Kong by NC Design & Architecture.

Hong Kong is among the last places on earth where you might expect to find a tree house. Yet there, in the middle of the Kowloon neighborhood, straddling the end of a congested, tower-lined alley, you’ll find just that: a wood cabin with a simple gabled outline that a child might draw, suspended 12 feet above street level amidst tropical foliage. Conceived by NC Design & Architecture, the abstracted cabin marks the entrance to Timber House, a new 30-story residential complex by property conglomerate New World Development and architecture firm AGC Design. It’s also an invitation into a world of curiosity and childlike wonder where, NCDA principal Nelson Chow says, “People should feel that anything is possible.”

Born in Hong Kong and raised between there and Toronto, Chow received a master’s in architecture from Ontario’s University of Waterloo before earning a certificate in men’s tailoring at New York’s Fashion Institute of Technology in 2005. He had always wanted to study fashion but the instability of a career in that industry made it a hard sell to his family. So he spent the first years of his professional life as an architect at AvroKO, a Manhattan firm specializing in hospitality projects. There he worked on designing everything from restaurant-staff uniforms to custom furniture, a holistic approach he took with him when he moved back to Hong Kong in 2009.

Chow founded his firm two years later, working on prominent restaurant and bar projects, including his breakthrough design for Foxglove, a slick speakeasy behind a 19th-century umbrella shop in downtown Hong Kong. “I like to think of my designs as stage sets that engage with emotional experience,” Chow says. “Architects like to look down on interior designers, and interior designers like to look down on people who work at a smaller scale than they do. But I think really everything, every detail, is equally important.”

That meticulous, experiential ethos made Chow the perfect designer to head up New World Development’s Timber House project. “I’m always looking for avant-garde ways to help strengthen the important relationship between society and our planet,” says CEO and executive vice chairman Adrian Cheng, the driving force behind the complex. “It’s very important to us that we make an impact with each property we produce, and I believe Timber House does this in a fun and creative new way.” Backing onto Ho Man Tin hill, a sliver of greenery that has made its eponymous neighborhood one of the city’s most sought-after residential districts, Timber House generates wonder and surprise precisely by restoring the connection between people and nature otherwise lost in the teeming metropolis. Comprising 240 apartments ranging in size from 222 to 526 square feet, the building is conceived principally for young families who move to the area for its top-notch schools.

The tree house, which floats in a three-story cutout at the building’s entrance, is just the first suggestion of the witty, mysterious, kid-friendly world inside. Powder-coated corrugated steel doors with brass handles and fluted glass panels are a portal between the sun-blasted concrete maze of the neighborhood and the lobby—a cool, forest lodge of a space, its walls painted deep olive—centered on a custom blackened-steel reception desk that resembles a woodburning stove, complete with smokestack. Each of the two elevators across the lobby has a backlit blackened-steel ladder running up its rear wall; reflected in the cab’s mirror ceiling, the rungs appear to offer infinite ascent toward an unseen destination. “We like to create a sense of whimsy wherever we can,” Chow says, “especially in this project, which is really for kids.”

Communal amenities span the second floor. A lounge, dining area, and kitchen occupy a terraced corner space overlooking the adjacent forested hillside—a shock of green that’s echoed in the pine lacquer finish on the custom kitchen cabinetry. A third of the floor is dedicated to a play area that includes a cluster of suspended cabins similar to the one down on the street. The little structures, which float above a ball pit, padded activity zone, and reading nook, are connected by tubes, like a miniature cloud-borne city built for and governed by children.

That singular combination of sophistication and play continues into the residential quarters on the higher floors. At the entrance to each unit, brass fixtures Chow calls “curiosity lights” use magnifying glasses to highlight apartment numbers. Inside, hand-picked finishes, from back painted–glass kitchen backsplashes to custom brass hardware, lend a sense of understated luxury, while a carefully chosen palette of pale grays, deep greens, and black is a far cry from the harsh, blank white of many residential-development interiors.

Black and gray ceramic tile clads the building’s facade, which is dotted with lushly planted balconies that provide privacy for city-facing apartments. The verdure extends to a rooftop garden-farm that commands impressive views of Hong Kong’s jagged skyline and gives clear outward expression to the developer’s commitment to sustainability. “Every city is addressing the idea of sustainability in its own way,” Chow notes, “so bringing greenery into a building, that’s not just happening in Hong Kong. But in a place this built-up, every inch counts.”

So, too, does every door handle, every surface, every point of connection between spaces and people—all the details that, taken together, make Chow’s work so engaging. Ultimately, Timber House suggests precisely what the designer hoped: If you can live in a cabin in the heart of Hong Kong, then maybe anything truly is possible.

NC Design & Architecture: john liu; rain ho; rafael pardo; jasmine kong; eddie wong

agc design: building architect

adrian l norman: land­scaping consultant

spectrum design & associates (asia): lighting consultant

hip seng builders: General Contractor

kettal: sofa, table, ottomans, cushions (terrace)

pierre frey: curtain fabric (play area, lounge)

koziel: wallpaper

Hay: chairs (dining area)

kvadrat: sofa fabric (lounge)

kohler co.: toilet, sink, sink fittings (bathroom)

ceramica vogue: tile

dulux: paint