Brookvale Apartment Singapore, Tristan And Juliana Studio

The balcony has been opened up to become an extension of the living room

The floor plan reveals how the apartment has become an assemblage of free-flowing spaces

‘One  would  be  hard pressed  to  find  equivalent  sophistication  in  the modern designs of today. Walk-up apartment blocks as old as Brookvale are an endangered species in our city-country of  Singapore.’ 

This top floor corner apartment is part of a 1980s apartment block on the  western  side  of  Singapore.  The  area  is  lush  and  attractively landscaped, creating the impression of a self-contained community precinct.  The apartment block  itself  sits  on  a hill  and backs on  to  the dense jungle of the Maju military base reserve.

They might  not  have the heritage  caché of the shophouse, but  walk- up  apartment blocks from the Brookvale Park era can mount  an equally strong case for preservation and renewal. First, in their design and use of materials, they have architectural character. Secondly, in terms of their internal  planning,  says architect  Juliana  Chan,   ‘they  combine  both  a stroke  of  practicality  in  their  economy  of  scale,  whilst  maintaining sensitivity  to  the   spatial  proportions  and   distances  required  for  its inhabitants to live life without the intrusive pressure of urbanity.’

The  generous balcony and  ingenious spatial organization were  two things that  persuaded Juliana Chan  and  her  interior designer husband Tristan Tan,  who previously ran Singapore’s popular furniture showroom Cream, that the apartment had  the potential for reinvention. The result is a strong argument for ‘recycling’ existing apartment buildings rather  than the more common practice of demolition and rebuilding, which often ends up  with apartment buildings that are claustrophobic, formulaic and much less sensitive to their physical and historical context.

Like the many shophouse make-overs, this Brookvale Park apartment is an instructive exercise in how an existing dwelling can be adapted to a sophisticated  contemporary  lifestyle  without  losing  the  character  and sense of community which come with its history. 

Removal of the ceiling has exposed the trusses, which have become a decorative feature in what is now a very generous space. 

The transparency of the bookcase, with  a view  through to the elevated  home office,  helps  dispel any sense of confinement.

Other sustainable aspects of this renovation include opening up  the interior and rethinking the fenestration to promote cross-ventilation, and generating  a greater sense of connection  with  the outside,  especially  at the rear of the apartment where the new master bedroom and bathroom both  ‘borrow’ the landscape of the reserve without any loss of privacy.

Being on  the top  floor of the building offered a crucial advantage. By removing  the  artificial  ceiling,  the  designers  were  able  to  exploit  the sharply  pitched  roof  of the  building  to significantly  increase  the  volumes in the  apartment, especially in the  living/dining/kitchen area in the  front part.  This exercise revealed the  timber rafters, which were  sanded back and  restored. In this way, not only is the sense of space in the apartment greatly enhanced but the intrinsic character of the building is revealed.

The  internal  spaces have  also  been thoroughly  rethought so that  the apartment now  has a  public area (living/dining/kitchen), a  private area (bedroom and  bathroom) and  an  in-between space (home  office). The latter is on  the  same level as the  kitchen and  bedroom, about  a  metre above the  entry  level  and  living  space, and  was formerly  the  master bedroom. 

It is an in-between space because the dividing wall has been removed and replaced by see-through shelving to partially connect it to the living space. The public area begins at the entry with the living area that leads out to the balcony.  A settee, which faces the balcony, is integrated into a series of floating steps that lead from the stone floor of the living area to the timber floor of the kitchen/dining area. The elevation of the kitchen/dining area makes the living space seem like a sunken den, a cosy  self-contained space which avoids any sense of claustrophobia because of the wide balcony doors, and by being visually connected to the rear of the apartment by doorways on either side of the kitchen unit and to the studio.

The long quartz benchtop and elegantly integrated, linear  kitchen joinery serve to separate the public and private areas. Originally, the rear of the apartment contained two guest bedrooms, a kitchen and a service bath. This has been rationalized into a single bedroom with an en suite. (There is  also  a  powder room  and small storeroom  adjacent  to  the kitchen.) The bedroom ceiling was also removed to  expose the timber trusses  and  sloping  roof,   and  the  bedroom  was  connected  to   the bathroom by a concealed door  in the dark timber built-in wardrobe.

Just as  the bedroom borrows the outside  landscape,  the bathroom has the character of an outdoor room  with  a free-standing  bath and a Boffi tubular shower, which stands in the middle of the floor without a screen—all  looking  out   to   the  reserve  through a  generously  sized window.

The finishes and furnishings in the apartment have all been carefully selected  and crafted  to  combine  contemporary taste  with  the slightly rustic character of the original building. Hence, the tables and  stools are from e15,  the dining chairs are  Hans Wegner  ‘Wishbone’, the sofa bed  is Gervasoni and  the  kitchen appliances are  all Miele. Other  furnishings, however,  are   either  restored  antique  pieces  or  have   been  custom- designed to lend a homely, spontaneous feel.

Similarly, other elements help maintain a historical connection through their  materials  and   palette.  The   frame  around  the   kitchen  unit,  for example, is CorTen  steel, and there  is a range of timber palette from light to dark.  The  external  window  frames  are  pre-rusted steel  to hint  at  the original framing, while the internal glazing is very contemporary.

This  apartment  is  an  outstanding  example  of  adaptive  reuse. Demolition  and rebuilding  have been avoided and the inherent character of the apartment has been explored to create a stylish  contemporary dwelling.  In the process, the apartment has been rethought to meet the needs of a young  couple without children whose professional background reflects the changing face of Singapore.

The ‘stage’ of the dining area also gives the opportunity for a banquette and some elegant floating steps to the upper level.

The private area is behind the kitchen pod and includes a powder room  and laundry. 

The view  of  the living  area  from  the elevated  kitchen/dining  space  shows the entry door  and reveals how the small apartment now has a feeling of spaciousness. 

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