5-room HDB Flat Marries Industrial And Oriental Styles

HDB
Bathroom, Bedroom, Dining Room, Kitchen, Living Room, Study
Industrial, Oriental

This 5 room HDB flat in Bedok Reservoir Road merges the best of Industrial designs with an Oriental style.

It takes more than a sharp eye for detail to mix design themes and styles without warranting a clash in styles. Homes that are rich in layers and styles are much more vibrant and dynamic and help to distort the mundane.

At the behest of their client, CAD Associates relied on experience and a penchant for experimentation to merge the best of Industrial designs with an Oriental style for the 5-room HDB flat. Prior to the first consultation, the client had the Industrial theme in mind for its clean and spacious look. However, to work around the overwhelming rawness that exists in industrial designs, the design team suggested a union with the Oriental theme after observing traditional Chinese and Oriental paintings hung in the clients’ previous abode.

Style & confidence

To start, the designers compiled common elements between both styles as a base to build their designs on, the black border and timber finishing all bridge the divide between both styles. Screed-like floor tiles and brick features were also selected to set the wheels of Oriental Industrial in motion.

Acting with functionality in mind, CAD Associates designed a floating shoe cabinet with an open storage area for frequently worn slippers and to create an illusion of a larger floor space.

Furniture within the 5-room HDB Flat is a strong point of consideration as pre-existing furnishings has to be slowly introduced into the home with forethought to the new design. Before the clients made the order for loose furniture with their contractor, the design team sat down with the homeowners to relay colour scheme and measurements before having them imported in from overseas.

Subway tiles and dark overhead features reinforces an industrial vibes

The initial layout of the living and dining room was one conjoined expanse with no clear division or dissection. A made-to-measure open cabinet was constructed to demarcate the living and dining zones and house the collection of sculptures and precious ornaments the homeowners have collected on their travels.

In the living room, dark overhead electrical fixtures and pale wood furniture punctuated with black metal fittings fill the room, the glass top coffee table, TV console and the open cabinet, act as complementary art pieces to the Oriental paintings hung on the wall – nothing looks out of place in the gallery-like home.

This unpretentious style evolves further in the kitchen where the elements of Industrial Oriental are carried forth. Subway tiles with black grout were used to reinforce the Industrial look and tie in the grey and whites of the floor. The kitchen cabinet with a laminated finish promises enough storage options for cooking ware or canned ingredients. To artistically disguise a beam that goes across both sides of the kitchen, a vertical boxing with the same laminate finishing was built to camouflage with the rest of the kitchen.

Balancing colours and textures make clashing styles work seamlessly

Over in the master bedroom, major restructuring was done to alter the layout – the bed that was once flushed to the wall is positioned centrally within the room like an island. The headboard is then replaced with a floor-to-ceiling sandblasted glass division. On the opposing flank of the headboard, the division created by the glass border opens up a walkway that converts the sliding wardrobe into an unconventional walk-in closet.

As an art aficionado and artist himself, the client requested for an area that is wide and spacious enough for him to invoke his creative muses and wield his pen to create sculpture and paintings. The working table and display-shelving units were flushed towards the wall to commission a spacious area in the center of the room.

As the saying goes, “opposite attracts”, but balancing a blend of styles within a home is a challenge on its own. To avoid raising more than a few eyebrows, a good sense of colour and material is a necessity, in addition to a strong design direction. With this, the rewarding decision to go with the unconventional union of Industrial and Oriental designs makes CAD Associates doyens of the interior design industry.

Photography by Michael Dur, Best Arts Photography

A made-to-order open display cabinet demarcates the living from the dining zones. Furniture with black metal fixings and dark overhead electrical fixtures dictate the living space.

The dining area is a cosy affair with oriental paintings flanking the walls.

A floating shoe cabinet at the entrance was created to create an illusion of space and to store frequently worn slippers in the home.

White subway tiles with dark grout stand out in the kitchen. To disguise an unsightly beam, a vertical boxing was constructed to camouflage with the rest of the kitchen.

On the homeowner’s request for architectural purity and an abundance of space for his artistry pursuits, the worktable and open display cabinets are flushed to the wall.

After much thought, the bed was reconfigured to the center of the bedroom like an island. A wall-to-ceiling headboard dissects the room and opens up a pathway, creating a walk-in wardrobe with the sliding doors of the closet.