Hong Kong Residence by NC Design & Architecture: 2020 Best of Year Winner for Apartment

The owner of the 1,700-square-foot four-bedroom Hong Kong residence tapped firm director Nelson Chow to renovate the space into
a retreat from the urban bustle, one that would fulfill a trio of requirements: It should be beautiful and functional but also age well. Chow responded by converting the apartment into a one-bedroom, reapportioning the floor plan into a series of minimalist zones that provide refuge and keep the focus on a curated selection of timeless, artful furnishings. Shoji screen-inspired folding panels lining the living room walls conceal storage as well as the portal to a moodily lit corridor leading to the bedroom and spalike bathroom. “I believe every detail should be seamlessly integrated into its surroundings,” Chow says. Adding texture and depth are elements such as oxidized-bronze wall plates and a marble platform in the living room as well as hand-brushed plaster risers in the bedroom, where Chow conjured a sense of wabi-sabi, the traditional Japanese reverence for the flawed and unfinished.

Project team: Nelson Chow; Viktorija Valiulyte; Rain Ho; John Liu.

> See the full list of winners and honorees from Best of Year 2020