A film director’s flat where vintage Ikea and props stand proudly among art and antiques
Song Ze Hua, an engineer-turned-filmmaker, has created the ultimate set in his eclectic Hong Kong apartment
It’s handy being handy. And engineer-turned-filmmaker Song Ze Hua is certainly that. “I spent my childhood building things,” he says. “I thought that if there could be a job of inventor, that would be the title I would want to have. Engineering was the closest thing.”
So it’s no surprise that Song occupied the director’s chair in the redesign of his 1,100 sq ft Mid-Levels apartment, which was overseen by Moore Chen Interior.
When he bought the unit 12 years ago – having chosen Mid-Levels because he wanted to be close to both trees and transport – he stripped it back to its concrete shell and set about enlarging the windows and reconfiguring the rooms.
“The most essential thing for a happy living space is good light,” he says. “Second is decent ambience that you make yourself.”
Layout enhances atmosphere. To make the flat feel larger, Song created two bedrooms from three, and ensured there was ample storage throughout: two sizeable cupboards are built into the wall between the main bedroom and living area, one opening into each space. The kitchen segues into the living area while a porthole door divides the bedrooms and bathrooms from the main living zone.
“It was a jigsaw puzzle but I love it,” says Song. “Living in Hong Kong is a real challenge […] Everyone needs space and that’s what this apartment was designed for – to create the maximum feeling of space.”
The flat’s layout allows him to work from home, either in his second bedroom, which serves as an office for his production company, or a square zone within the living area. The dining area-cum-second workspace can be closed off using bi-fold doors made with chicken-wire glass, which has nostalgic appeal, Song says, and prevents people from walking into it.
And the doors serve a secondary purpose. “I wanted to be able to put all my scenes on the glass,” he says. “When you are looking at a whole film in words there’s an immediacy to being able to just glance at any bit of it. Plus there’s this sense of the geography of a film, because you get to recognise the way clusters of dialogue and action are on the page. You just get a feel for the balance of things.”
Song’s career path is perhaps as unconventional as his home. He abandoned a doctorate in aeronautical engineering to study product design at Central Saint Martins, in London, Britain. Later, work as an animator for various architects led to live-action filming and directing. Song is currently writing the script for a movie to be shot early next year, titled Mrs Tsang’s Secret Garden.
His furnishings are eclectic and comprise everything from antiques-market finds to vintage Ikea pieces, to old design classics such as Le Corbusier’s LC4 chaise longue. Among them are props from old film and art projects, including a clapper board, a painting and an analogue telephone.
But there’s a method to the madness. “Every Asian country I have been to, I have tried to find either ceramics or rugs, because they are things you can use every day,” Song says. “You can populate a space really fast with them and make it your own – and they last if they are made properly.”
And if the walls seem unusually bare, there’s a reason. “I never like putting things on the wall because I think it gives them too much pride of place, unless they really deserve it,” he says. “Everything else stays on leaning status.”
The untethered paintings, along with the low furnishings and broad windows, add to an overall widescreen feel within the home. “I don’t like stuff that’s really vertical. This whole apartment is all about horizontals,” says Song. “Maybe it’s because I like life in CinemaScope.”
Living area detail The door with porthole window offers a view of the living area from the zone containing the bedrooms and office. The lacquered cabinet, from Shanxi province, was bought in Macau 20 years ago. The early-20th-century mirror above it came from a market in Amsterdam, in the Netherlands.
Bathroom The cupboard is faced with hinoki cypress wood, which emits a fragrant pine smell. The lamp is the Fado from Ikea (HK$139.90).