Yntervjus mei Tinway Cheng

In the frantic rhythm of contemporary urban life, a home must transcend mere functionality; it should serve as the ultimate sanctuary where users can completely disarm and embrace their true selves. The core of this project lies in crafting a "psychological transition process," utilizing an architectural cadence to naturally decelerate the mind, body, and soul.The entrance corridor plays a pivotal role in this transformative journey. Instead of revealing the entire living space immediately upon entry, the design intentionally prolongs the psychological transition. As residents walk along the curated display cabinet, shedding their shoes and coats, they experience a physical and sensory progression: from darkness to luminosity, from compressed low ceilings to soaring heights, and from enclosure to openness. This meticulous control of light creates an atmospheric low-brightness threshold, guiding people into a serene realm of pure relaxation. The corridor ceases to be a mere passageway; it becomes an essential process of decompression, ensuring that before one even steps into the main communal area, the mind has already completed its serene transition from urban chaos to absolute tranquility.

The inspiration stems from seeking a harmonious balance between a "transformative ritual" and "home-like warmth."As the primary threshold segregating urban chaos from domestic sanctuary, the entrance corridor demands a strong sense of envelopment. We selected dark stone flooring to establish a grounded sense of spatial order through its low chroma and solid texture; it acts as an emotional silencer, instantly absorbing and settling the restlessness brought from the outside, signaling the beginning of embracing one's true self. To counteract the potential coldness of the dark stone, we symmetrically introduced warm wooden walls. The natural grain and warm tones of the timber diffuse a comforting enclosure under low-light conditions, subtly embodying the inherent security and temperature of a home. This juxtaposition of cold and warm, rigid and soft materials, forms the emotional bridge returning the mind from the exterior world to the interior self.

This residence is not intended as a vessel for lavish display; rather, we sought to explore what a contemporary living space that induces true quietude should embody. Striking this subtle equilibrium lies in a philosophy of "retaining sensory warmth while stripping away non-essentials."In terms of spatial flow, we dismantled the rigid, unidirectional pathways typical of traditional layouts, incorporating a fully open circular circulation throughout the entire communal zone. Within this fluid architecture, movement is completely free and unconstrained. This continuous flow not only enhances daily functionality but fundamentally mirrors our core design intent: that a home should be a sanctuary for absolute mental and spiritual freedom.Regarding material selection, to counteract the clinical coldness often associated with conventional minimalism, we enveloped the vertical wall surfaces in large expanses of textured tactile plaster. By discarding intense color palettes and ornate patterns, the material accentuates the raw honesty of the architectural volume. As natural light washes over these walls, the subtle roughness of the plaster creates delicate gradations and soft diffusion—manifesting as "gentle, poetic ripples" within the space. This understated material vibration, harmonized with the uninhibited movement, successfully infuses genuine domestic warmth into an otherwise pure, minimalist geometric order.

Within this 198.35-square-meter space, we avoided using rigid partitions to separate functions. Instead, we treated "texture," "light," and "movement" as interconnected dimensions of a fluid medium. Through the transition of the entrance corridor, these elements achieve a balanced harmony, creating a genuine homecoming ritual.Natural light is treated as a precious raw material in any space. In the communal areas, we unlocked the floor plan to allow daylight to diffuse naturally. Conversely, artificial light is tailored to evoke distinct spatial undertones—inducing relaxation, a whisper of romance, and a sense of calm mystery.This integration of the three elements is directed by the entrance corridor:Light: Progresses from an intentional, low-brightness shadow at the entrance, gradually expanding into the bright openness of the living zone.Movement: Shifts from the linear guidance of the corridor into an uninhibited, fluid circular circulation upon entering the main space.Texture: In the subtle shadows, the dark flooring and textured wall surfaces exhibit a deeply restrained, calm materiality, revealing their gentle ripples as the light transitions from dark to bright.The gradation of light guides the openness of movement, while the movement uncovers the changing warmth of the materials. Seamlessly interwoven within this scale, these three elements successfully complete this serene urban sanctuary.

The true value of natural light lies in its manifestation of time. A sophisticated residential space should not possess a static expression; instead, through the interplay of light and materiality, it allows residents to perceive the passage of time within their daily routines, ultimately achieving inner peace.In this project, we selected expanses of textured wall plaster, warm timber, and dark flooring. These materials are deliberately non-reflective, chosen for their ability to gently capture and settle light.Morning and Daytime: As abundant daylight floods the space, the subtle texture of the plastered walls creates soft, diffused gradations. The juxtaposition of timber and dark flooring establishes a restrained contrast, enveloping activities like playing the piano in a calm, non-glaring daytime energy.Evening and Nightfall: As the sun sets, natural light slowly recedes, causing the material tones to deepen. The atmospheric focus naturally shifts toward localized artificial illumination, prompting a gradual deceleration of the user's pace.By treating the interaction between natural light and materials as an understated rhythm, the design eliminates the need for redundant ornamentation. Merely experiencing the shifting light shadows across these honest surfaces provides a profound elevation of the resident's daily experience.

Creating contrasts within a residence is not about generating visual shock; rather, it aims to achieve a deeper sense of tranquility through the balance of rigid and soft textures. The dialogue between the living room's stone feature wall and the tactile plastered walls serves as the visual "echo" within this space.For the living room feature wall, we selected a stone with an organic, understated texture to represent a material force of "rigidity, solidity, and stillness." However, to prevent a large expanse of stone from inducing clinical coldness or heaviness, we meticulously controlled its visual proportion and positioned it strictly as the focal core of the main vista.In dialogue with the stone are the extensive soft-coated plastered walls enveloping the surroundings. The restrained, calm texture of the plaster represents "warmth, fineness, and closure." As natural light brushes across these surfaces, the gentle ripples of the plastered walls align visually with the natural veining of the stone. The coexistence of these two contrasting materials mirrors the encounter between enduring rock and a gentle breeze in nature. Through this disciplined positioning and proportional balance, we successfully crafted a spatial narrative that feels both inherently powerful and comfortingly warm within a minimalist framework.

The most formidable challenge during execution lay in "perfectly concealing the clutter of daily life without compromising functional convenience."To safeguard the absolute serenity of the main living area, we implemented a highly disciplined zoning strategy. The design consolidates and hides the entire heavy-storage infrastructure—including the shoe-changing zone, corridor display cabinets, a dedicated cloakroom, a food pantry, and a general storage room—along one single side of the entrance corridor flank.The primary difficulty of this centralized, concealed storage system was striking a meticulous balance between "pragmatic living habits and seamless circulation." Ensuring the precise alignment of invisible doors with the textured wall finish, while maintaining intuitive and fluid accessibility behind minimalist lines, demanded rigorous technical precision. By completely digesting these visual distractions within the transitional corridor axis, the main living space is liberated from functional chaos, successfully achieving an absolute equilibrium between practical daily requirements and the design's underlying quietude.

Contemporary urban environments are saturated with fragmented information and visual anxiety. Future residential design should cease piling on redundant ornamental symbols, and instead focus on helping residents reclaim mental clarity and mindfulness.We envision that Echo of Serenity will inspire future developments in urban housing by proving that "good design is not merely a solution to physical form, but a questioning of lifestyles." This project demonstrates a practice of integrating environmental psychology with architecture: guiding emotions through an intentionally prolonged transitional corridor, and restoring spatial autonomy to the inhabitants via uninhibited circular circulation and stripped-back materials.It underscores that a mindful living space does not rely on lavish materialism; rather, it depends on the precise calibration of spatial order and sensory transition. We hope future residential architecture shifts toward this subtractive approach centered on the perception of living, allowing a home to fulfill its truest purpose—serving as a sanctuary deep within the city where the mind settles and the true self is found.

Spatial transitions should not act as abrupt interruptions; instead, they should unfold like a continuous, seamless musical movement. Powerful design leverages invisible spatial elements to evoke emotion, rather than relying on physical doors or walls to rigidly partition a home.In this project, our choreographing of space focuses entirely on the "contraction and expansion of psychological scale":This progresses from the deliberate enclosure, low ceiling, and deep shadow of the entrance corridor, to the fully unlocked, soaring, and luminous volume of the main communal zone. This contrast in scale naturally broadens the emotional transition. By dismantling traditional partitions, we linked domains using continuous wall textures and an uninhibited circular circulation. As residents move through the home, the soft gradations of light and shifting vistas intuitively guide both their pace and state of mind.This subtle orchestration ensures that the spatial progression feels fluid and unforced. It seamlessly allows the inhabitant to shed the restlessness of the outside world, slowing their rhythm until achieving absolute quietude upon reaching the living core. This is our definitive approach to spatial transition—keeping the design invisible, yet precisely tuning the mind and body's emotional resonance.

My rendering advice to fellow designers is this: "Do not strive to design more redundant ornamental symbols; instead, design time, light, and the psychological transition of the inhabitant."In bustling urban environments, designers easily fall into the trap of "addition," attempting to isolate the outside world through lavish materialism or exaggerated forms. However, true calm cannot be acquired by piling on objects; it stems from the discipline and restructuring of spatial order.To counter contemporary urban anxiety, we must embrace a "subtractive" approach to craft sanctuaries:1.Prolong the Psychological Journey: Utilize entryways or corridors to preserve a transitional space that subtly recalibrates the user's sensory pace, fulfilling the transition from chaos to quietude.2.Liberate Circulatory Autonomy: Dismantle rigid partitions in favor of uninhibited, fluid movement, allowing inhabitants to experience absolute freedom of mind within their home.3.Defer to Raw Materials: Keep the background minimal to let natural light and restrained textures take precedence, ensuring that life itself remains the core narrative.Good design should transcend the pursuit of mere form; it should act as a questioning of lifestyles. When we keep design invisible and restore spatial purity and autonomy to the occupant, serenity will naturally echo through the space.