Interiors & Living

A Chinese banyan (Ficus microcarpa) tree is situated in an infinity pool in this rendering of a home in New Delhi, India, designed by
New York-based firm ODA Architecture. Photo: AP

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.

19 Jan 2025 - 4:15PM

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

25 Jul 2024 - 5:23AM

Chinese culture

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

20 Aug 2024 - 12:30PM

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.

9 Aug 2024 - 12:44PM

Singaporean architect Cliff Tan in a still from one of his Instagram videos. Photo: Instagram/dearmodern

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’.

29 Jun 2024 - 6:15PM

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.

16 Jun 2024 - 11:15AM

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

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.

29 May 2024 - 10:53AM

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.

18 May 2024 - 1:15PM

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.

11 May 2024 - 11:15AM

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.

11 May 2024 - 7:39AM

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.

25 Apr 2024 - 1:12PM

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.

20 Apr 2024 - 12:20PM

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.

13 Apr 2024 - 11:15AM

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.

9 Apr 2024 - 12:51PM

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.

22 Mar 2024 - 12:45PM

photographic mosaic Khmer Reamker, by Vietnamese artist Dinh Q. Lê, in the living room of the Sai Kung home of Katie de Tilly of Hong Kong art gallery 10 Chancery Lane. Photo: Eugene Chan. Styling: Flavia Markovits

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.

20 Mar 2024 - 12:40PM

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.

10 Mar 2024 - 11:15AM

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

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.

9 Mar 2024 - 6:15PM

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.

29 Feb 2024 - 11:21AM

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.

22 Feb 2024 - 1:06PM

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.

19 Feb 2024 - 9:39AMvideocam

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

Architecture and design

Now a Hong Kong university campus, its darker past is of war and prisoners

Nestled in verdant Pok Fu Lam, the University of Chicago’s Hong Kong campus tells the story of the city’s wartime defeat to the Japanese and of its buildings’ subsequent occupants: prisoners.

19 Feb 2024 - 11:37AM

Block C jail cells at Victoria Road Detention Centre Site in Pokfulam. 14DEC23 SCMP / Jonathan Wong

Architecture and design

The outdoors is the artwork in a Hong Kong home with stunning green views

Harbour views are prized in Hong Kong, but a renovation of a flat with huge windows makes the most of its vistas of verdant hillsides to create a restful interior with notes of wood and stone.

12 Feb 2024 - 1:15PM

Architecture and design

Artist’s line drawing inspires Hong Kong home design with a Balinese vibe

A Hong Kong village house with a Balinese vibe brings Scandinavian, Moroccan and Japanese elements together seamlessly – and it all started with a single-line drawing.

28 Jan 2024 - 11:15AM

‘It was a nightmare’: building the world’s first luxury villa in a plane

Russian entrepreneur Felix Demin reveals why his Private Jet Villa – a new luxury residence in Bali built in an old Boeing 737-200, which rents for up to US$6,500 per night – was so hard to create.

27 Jan 2024 - 7:15AM

Russian property developer Felix Demin’s Private Jet Villa, built in a retired Boeing 737-200 and overlooking Nyang Nyang Beach, on Bali’s south coast, Indonesia, is one of the world’s most unique residences. Photo: Felix Demin

TRENDING TOPICS

Chinese culture

Korean drama reviews

Food and Drinks

Asian cinema: Hong Kong film

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

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

Now a Hong Kong university campus, its darker past is of war and prisoners

Block C jail cells at Victoria Road Detention Centre Site in Pokfulam. 14DEC23 SCMP / Jonathan Wong

Protecting Vietnam’s crumbling colonial villas

India's first solar-powered village

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

Help preserve 120 years of quality journalism.