Bronze
Arch Design Award
Winner
in
Interior Design Category
'23
The Jewel Box
Designed by
Britta Butler / B ² Design
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The Jewel Box
Residential Architecture
Hong Kong
Britta Butler / B ² Design
Hailey Cheung, Jenny van der Straten, Erika Andrade
Photo Credits:
Monika Kulon, 2023
Copyrights:
B ² Design, 2023
Hong Kong is a city of cookie-cutter high rises, with each shoebox-sized flat seemingly the same as the next. The Client for this project came to our firm with very specific requests: to break free from the typical HK mould and create something different, unique, beautiful, light, airy, sustainable, and with every square inch of its minuscule size (470 s.f.) put to use in a functional yet aesthetically pleasing way. She wanted it to be her "oasis" from the hectic outside world, and that as soon as you opened the door you would "realise it was full of precious, one-of-a-kind things-like a jewel box."
We thus set out to design a tiny home that paid very close attention to every detail, from the bespoke dining/work table fabricated from a single slab of Carrera marble, to the sustainably sourced wood for the floor laid in a herringbone pattern, to the sourcing and selection of every single light switch and plug in a specific brushed gold. Our color palette of sapphire, ruby, and garnet was in keeping with the theme, and even the black and white patterned tiled floor in the elevator landing lobby was specifically chosen as a nod to Alice in Wonderland's journey to a magical place with many unexpected surprises.
Finally, though it might seem minor (or humorous), a good example of our design not only being pleasing to the eye but also highly functional was in the WC, and more specifically, in the toilet paper holder! The bathroom was so small, that anywhere the contractor tried to place the roll, it meant the user would bump into it. So we devised an ingenious way to hang it inside the vanity cabinet and then make an opening at the side adjacent to the toilet, so the paper could be threaded through for access. Voila-problem solved and the jewel box remained intact with no unsightly items to be found!