Lifestyle /

Interiors & Living

Hotel Lisboa, Macau. Photo: SJM Resorts
Asia travel

Memories of Macau pleasure palace Hotel Lisboa as it turns 55

‘Whatever happened at the Lisboa stayed in the Lisboa.’ Macau’s first integrated resort and how it has been subtly updated for the new era.

Fame and celebrity

Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, unveils new brand As Ever on Instagram

Asia travel

City near Mount Fuji creates unique lodgings in unused buildings

Architecture and design

Crazy new Dubai mega mansions cater to owners’ wild requests

Dubai developers are going to extraordinary lengths so that their luxury homes can compete with those in cities like New York and Hong Kong.

A mansion in Dubai. Priced anywhere from US$60 million to more than US$120 million, a new round of mansions and penthouses is being built in Dubai to attract the mega-wealthy around the world. Photo: Palace Group
A mansion in Dubai. Priced anywhere from US$60 million to more than US$120 million, a new round of mansions and penthouses is being built in Dubai to attract the mega-wealthy around the world. Photo: Palace Group
Architecture and design

Trees star at these stunning homes and buildings as creators go bark-ing mad

From airports and apartment buildings to beautiful private houses, architects and interior designers are using trees to striking effect.

Wellness

Can’t sleep well in your studio or small flat? Try these 5 expert tips

Do you find it hard to sleep properly in your small flat or studio? Experts offer tips that will help you get a good night’s rest, from changing your environment to reducing external stimulation.

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Chinese culture

Feng shui office designer on how to create ‘balance’ in workspaces

Thierry Chow, a Hong Kong feng shui designer of workplaces, shares how she uses colours, lighting, layout and plants in harmony to make a productive space, and why there’s no one-size-fits-all approach.

Hong Kong feng shui master Thierry Chow designs productive workspaces. She talks to the post about using lighting and colours to achieve balanced energy, and why every space needs a different approach. Photo: Xiaomei Chen
Hong Kong feng shui master Thierry Chow designs productive workspaces. She talks to the post about using lighting and colours to achieve balanced energy, and why every space needs a different approach. Photo: Xiaomei Chen
Chinese culture

Singaporean architect goes viral on TikTok with feng shui videos

With millions of followers across TikTok, Instagram and YouTube, Singaporean architect Cliff Tan’s quirky viral videos are bringing the ancient Chinese practice of feng shui to a whole new audience.

Wellness

Wellness is at the forefront of today’s home design – using AI, art and tech

Health-centric technologies are being used to make self-care ‘a cornerstone of modern living spaces’ – think smart mattresses, and interactive art that can ‘transform you based on your movement, heartbeat or mood’.

Architecture and design

Mid-century modern with Eastern sensibility in a Hong Kong couple’s home

A homeowner was so impressed with the understated mid-century modern refurbishment of her home in Pok Fu Lam, on Hong Kong Island, that she joined the design studio that carried it out.

Cabinets on wheels in the living room of a Hong Kong apartment wrap around a corner. The homeowner was so impressed with the mid-century modern meets East renovation of the flat in Pok Fu Lam that she joined the design studio responsible. Photo: Harold de Puymorin
History

Serving the people for 106 years: Hong Kong’s YMCA Bridges Street Centre

The YMCA centre in Sheung Wan, which opened with what were then cutting-edge sporting facilities, has served the community since 1918. Part of it is now a hostel for the intellectually disabled.

The YMCA Bridges Street Centre in Sheung Wan, Hong Kong, built in 1918. Photo: Dickson Lee
The YMCA Bridges Street Centre in Sheung Wan, Hong Kong, built in 1918. Photo: Dickson Lee
Architecture and design

Abandoned, mouldy, but couple saw the potential of rural Hong Kong flat

An innovative couple on Hong Kong’s Lantau Island show you don’t have to spend a lot of money to create a welcoming, original home bursting with colour and character.

Architecture and design

This Hong Kong home is minimalist, open-plan – and perfect for cats

A Sham Tseng flat, in the New Territories, was renovated with the owners’ cats in mind – think bespoke feline furniture, scratch-proof flooring paired with hidden storage and Japanese-style decor.

Architecture and design

‘Extraordinary’ Hong Kong buildings designed by local architects

Seventy local buildings and urban spaces designed by Hong Kong architects are celebrated in Raymond Fung’s Untold Stories: Hong Kong Architecture, with a focus on public amenities.

Featured in Raymond Fung’s book, “Untold Stories: Hong Kong Architecture”, is the 2022 expansion of the Oi! art space on Oil Street, North Point, by Architectural Services Department architects led by Edward Wong.
Architecture and design

‘A Hong Kong story’: typography show explores Kowloon communities

A new Hong Kong exhibition at Gate33 in Kai Tak’s Airside uses typography to explore the built environments, communities and culture of Wong Tai Sin, San Po Kong, Kowloon City and To Kwa Wan.

The Infinite Mirror Room of Bestowment, which includes hand-lettered signs inspired by the graphic landscape of To Kwa Wan, along with 110 four-character aphorisms engraved on mirrored pillars, is part of TypePOP Show in Hong Kong. Photo: Gate33 Gallery
The Infinite Mirror Room of Bestowment, which includes hand-lettered signs inspired by the graphic landscape of To Kwa Wan, along with 110 four-character aphorisms engraved on mirrored pillars, is part of TypePOP Show in Hong Kong. Photo: Gate33 Gallery
Architecture and design

Timeless luxury in Hong Kong flat renovated for couple’s retirement

Appreciation of ‘the finer things in life’ guided designers in a luxury revamp that turned a 2,035 sq ft apartment in Lai Chi Kok, Hong Kong, into a home for a couple’s retirement.

Architecture and design

Barbie-inspired Hong Kong home ‘feels just right when you walk in’

Polished and playful in equal measure, the Barbie Dreamhouse-inspired Ho Man Tin home of a young family shows it may be possible to please everyone.

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Architecture and design

Mix of textures creates chic urban pad that’s comforting and inviting

An outdated 1,100 sq ft Mid-Levels apartment has been transformed into a microcosm of Hong Kong, with its balance of energy and serenity capturing the duality of the Fragrant Harbour.

The entrance to the living room of the apartment in Mid-Levels, Hong Kong, designed by Studio Ella. Photo: Steven Ko
The entrance to the living room of the apartment in Mid-Levels, Hong Kong, designed by Studio Ella. Photo: Steven Ko
Architecture and design

Art is part of the furniture in this Hong Kong home: it ‘inspires creativity’

A Hong Kong art gallery owner’s hilltop family home in the New Territories is a kaleidoscope of vibrant, fun artworks – every room inspires creativity and tells a different story.

Architecture and design

Library or forest? World’s biggest library reading space, in Beijing, is both

The world’s largest library reading space, housed by the Beijing City Library in China’s capital, was inspired by nature – think rice paddies, a river and trees – and designed to be something of a social space.

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Architecture and design

Soothing avocado green, French simplicity in this Hong Kong home’s makeover

A Hong Kong-based client’s favourite colour shade was not only on trend, it was also the perfect hue to turn her 520 sq ft Tsuen Wan flat into a relaxing sanctuary.

The high-rise apartment in Tsuen Wan, Hong Kong, designed by MT Design makes use of avocado as the primary colour, as seen in the faux wainscot (above) in the dining room, and in the kitchen behind. Photo: Samson Lau
Architecture and design

Forget Ikea – how sustainable slow decorating has become a new home trend

There’s slow fashion, food, travel – and now decorating, the sustainable home trend fighting against fast furniture like Ikea that encompasses vintage pieces, upcycling and quality that lasts.

A vintage leather armchair and two-tiered table take pride of place in a living room. Designer Dan Mazzarini says such “slow decorating” includes an appreciation for high-quality and sustainable vintage pieces. The home trend is seen as fighting back against fast furniture brands like Ikea. Photo: AP
A vintage leather armchair and two-tiered table take pride of place in a living room. Designer Dan Mazzarini says such “slow decorating” includes an appreciation for high-quality and sustainable vintage pieces. The home trend is seen as fighting back against fast furniture brands like Ikea. Photo: AP
Architecture and design

‘A perfect retirement home’: 510 sq ft Hong Kong apartment with Bauhaus form

This 510 sq ft retirement apartment in Hong Kong’s Tai Hang neighbourhood has been given a Bauhaus-inspired renovation that will allow its elderly occupants to age in place – and comfort.

Architecture and design

How a design journalist’s Hong Kong village house evolved over 20 years

A design journalist reflects on the house in a village in Hong Kong’s Sai Kung district she called home for 20 years, and how the homes she wrote about influenced numerous upgrades to its interiors.

Architecture and design

When the covers came off The Blue hotel, Taipei ‘paused for a moment’

Pair whose focus is the need for an architecture that responds to a world being manipulated by AI, and for Emotional cities not Smart cities, put their ideas into practice in design of The Blue in Taipei.

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The Blue, in Taipei, by Spheron Architects. Its designers talk about conceiving the hotel according to Emotionalist principles they set out in a manifesto that calls for architecture to counter an “ever-digitising world” where they fear humans are losing control. Photo: Yu Zhi Lin
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