He made a minimalist, airy Hong Kong home that ‘tells a story’: architect wanted an authentic, timeless design and to feel ‘a sense of belonging’
- Award-winning architect Georges Hung and his wife lived for three months in their 500 sq ft home in Discovery Bay on Lantau before deciding how to renovate it
- The apartment felt cramped and boxy – he combined kitchen, living room and bedroom into an airy space with ‘a sense of belonging that will grow like branches’
You might assume it would be easy for an architect to design his own home, but the way Georges Hung Huai-che describes it, he had so many ideas it was hard to settle on a final concept.
He and his wife, Page Richards, an academic and artist, even lived in the 500 sq ft (46 square metre) apartment in Discovery Bay on Lantau Island for three months before renovating so they could play around with various schemes and work out what to prioritise.
“By living here first, we were able to see how we used the space daily and discover what we needed and wanted. I did numerous sketches; for example, I had an idea for a series of pivoting panels to create different experiences but it wasn’t practical for the apartment’s size.
“Ultimately, it came down to proper scale for the openness and fluidity of the space,” says Hung, who recently started his design consultancy, AGHplus, a multidisciplinary studio focusing on designing and building a sustainable future through the “art of making”.
Dating back to the 1980s, the two-bedroom property had never been renovated. Hung says it felt cramped and boxy because of surplus partition walls and small windows that didn’t do justice to the dual-aspect view.
Top of the list was making the flat brighter and opening it up with more depth.
