This 1,080 sq ft Singapore flat is a layered sanctuary that gradually reveals itself
Blending privacy and comfort, Leena Interior Design Studio transformed a public housing unit into a couple’s ideal home
When the front door of this flat in Singapore’s Pinnacle@Duxton swings open, nothing of the interior is visible: an L-shaped foyer blocks the line of sight, while a low platform compresses the space before it opens out into an expansive living area.
Interior designer Leena Goh considers this the first “layer” of several in the 46th-floor, 1,080 sq ft (100 square metre) public housing unit. There are a few more to be found across the flat, introduced to allow it to reveal itself gradually.
Privacy, unsurprisingly, was the priority. Another was to ensure a clear separation between the public and private zones – an important consideration for Goh when designing homes.
“I believe that good planning should carry that complexity so daily life can remain simple,” says Goh, who runs her eponymous practice, Leena Interior Design Studio (Lids), in the city state. “Every design decision was measured against one question: does this make living in the home feel more intuitive and effortless?”
In addition to carefully composed layers, she also drew on framed views and overlapping spaces from her bag of interior tricks. This came after a significant reconfiguration of the floor plan – which included walls coming down – to fulfil the lifestyle needs of the flat’s occupants.
Her client, Steve Tan, a Singaporean software design director, remembers an instant connection with Goh when they met in 2023. After he had bought the apartment, he decided to renovate it and interviewed more than 20 interior designers that same year.
“She made an effort to find out about my wife and me and what we envision our home to be before she even started sketching any layout or offering solutions,” he says.