Doctors of Design Ukwakheka Ngaphakathi Kwendlu

Press Kit

Unique Properties

The approach removed the blockages of light, space and passage. In so doing, also united the spaces previously compartmentalized for reading, working, cooking and drinking coffee, thereby getting rid of not just the physical barriers between the spaces but also the emotional barriers between the activities designated for those spaces. The result is an openness that contributes toward a freeness of mind. A glass accordion-style door in the dining room, however, ensures that such sharing of light and space doesn’t come at the cost of privacy when needed.

Dimensions & Packaging

76 m2

Tags

Interior Design, Interior Designer, Home Decor, Japanese style, Wabi-sabi, MUJI

Production Technology

Blushing wooden veneer, Laminate flooring, Pattern glass, Tawny glass, Pine solid wood panel

Design Challenge

The couple’s home, a two-bedroom studio apartment, offered sufficient space, but made poor use of that space. Too many walls, partitions and standalone rooms blocked the flow of light and gave the home a claustrophobic feel. Thus, did away with the wall separating the living and dining rooms, replacing it with a less rigid partition, and allowing in more light. Opening up the living space in this manner also imparted a new center of gravity to the home’s common area, balancing it more soundly around the dining table and coffee station.

Research

A combination of two old words with overlapping definitions, wabi-sabi might be the Buddhist view of the facts of existence: Both life and art are beautiful not because they are perfect and eternal, but because they are imperfect and fleeting.
By David Watts Barton/ Japanology, April 2016
To design a space ideal for reading, cooking and enjoying good coffee. More importantly, clients required a home in which space and light would not only be optimized, but also utilized in a way that wouldn’t compromise their privacy or increase their use of air-conditioning and other utilities.

Inspiration

Like homeopathic medicine, the essence of wabi-sabi is apportioned in small doses. As the dose decreases, the effect becomes more potent, more profound. The closer things get to nonexistence, the more exquisite and evocative they become. Consequently to experience wabi-sabi means you have to slow way down, be patient and look very closely.
By Leonard Koren/Wabi-Sabi for Artists, Designers, Poets & Philosophers

Project Duration

The project started in January, 2019 and finished in July, 2019 in New Taipei City

Operation Flow

By remodeling the dining room after tearing down the living room wall, and creating a new space in which to eat, read and drink coffee, able to breathe new life into our clients’ leisure time. Also reshaped the contours of their home’s common areas to draw in and retain more light, replacing the home’s previous confining layout with lighter, airier atmospherics. The new lines and space tied the common areas together, instead of compartmentalizing them, and gave client couple not only new places and opportunities to interact and share meals together, but also new areas of privacy for reading and reflecting.

Image Credits

Image: Photographer Hsiao Hsiung Liang Yen,2019.