Check out this fully automated retirement home

Home Type: 5-room HDB flat

Floor Area: 1,400sqft

Text by Angela Low

What makes a dream retirement home? For this couple, it’s a cosy ambience, Zen-inspired design elements, and functional features that suit their changing needs as they age.

To create a timeless yet modern sanctuary, AP Concept kept to an understated colour scheme that brings about a Zen-like calm. The dominance of wood finishes also adds to the warmth of the interiors, while curved wall features lend personality and a soft and soothing touch.

What takes this flat to the next level of convenience – especially for its senior occupants – is its smart home system. The entire house is voice-controlled and fully automated, which improves the quality of life and accommodates the health needs of the homeowners.

It called for precise design and construction planning, making this the most challenging aspect of this $65,000 project. Yet, it’s also one of the most rewarding endeavours, having become the couple’s favourite feature of the abode.

As highly family-oriented individuals, the couple enjoys having family members over. It’s thus essential to design a large and open communal space. In this abode, the living and dining areas flow seamlessly between each other, both with ample seating.

To demarcate the two spaces, the designer built a partition composed of display nooks and wooden strips. Not only does it offer some privacy without obstructing the visual openness of the space, it also serves a functional purpose as a shelving unit. This geometric feature is topped off with a wall light. Designed to mimic an eclipse of the sun, it can be turned into a spotlight or used as mood lighting.

Wallpaper with soft, subtle colours and textures is used throughout the house, including the dining area’s feature wall. This elegant touch accentuates the recessed, horizontal display, as well as the curve of the wall, which was built to echo the original curved corner of the master bathroom. These elements come together to create just the right balance of quirky and high-end.

In the kitchen, a glass door and window help to maintain the open feel of the abode. Boasting darker finishes for a sleeker look, the kitchen breaks the monotony with its uneven hexagonal floor tiles, creating a gradual transition from the food preparation area to the kitchen workstation.

Lighting elevates the master bedroom from ordinary to high-end. For one, the ceiling spotlights near the sleeping area can be dimmed to recreate a romantic sunset. In the wardrobe opposite the bed, automated lighting sensors illuminate its contents the moment you open the doors. Finally, an illuminated full-body mirror by the bathroom door, which doubles as a storage cabinet, makes for a more luxurious, hotel-like environment in this retirement home.