The brief
A condominium on Sukhumvit 33, more than twenty years old, to be refreshed rather than merely redecorated. The family wanted a Muji-warm oak register, a bar at the heart of the living room so that everyone gathers in the same place, and somewhere proper for the household Buddha. Turning a house into a home is our favourite part of the work.
What was built
As drawn, the living room is a single long space with the seating set on a grey rug against a run of framed prints, and a television on a low white console at the far end. Behind the sofa, a lit oak drinks bar holds bottles on two shelves with a suspended glass rack below them. Opposite, the plan's central device: a row of oak fins, shelved at staggered heights, which screens the kitchen while leaving a lit alcove at its centre for a standing gilded Buddha. The main kitchen is a straight run of handleless white cabinets under a stone splashback; a second working kitchen behind it takes oak bases, grey gloss uppers, a sink, a dishwasher and a tall refrigerator. The bedroom has a platform bed lit from beneath, an oak headboard that continues as low bookshelves along the wall, an open fitted wardrobe with lit compartments, and a wall-hung desk and screen. At the entrance, oak-framed shoe cabinets flank an upholstered bench and a full-height mirror.
Materials and finishes
Pale oak throughout, on fins, shelving, bar, headboard and door frames, set against white walls, large-format white floor tiles and a single grey wall in the bedroom. Stone appears only where it works: a marble back and splashback at the bar and kitchen. Lighting is recessed and concealed, under shelves, inside niches and beneath the bed platform.
Programme and cost band
Six weeks on site, with every finish fixed before demolition. Work of this depth and joinery content sits in the upper half of the studio's published condominium band, with the fitted pieces measured against its built-in range per linear metre.
