A handsome, modern dwelling with raw touches

Home Type: 3-bedroom condominium unit

Floor Area: 1,249sqft

Text by Janice Seow

The young married couple living in this three-bedroom apartment have several passions in life. They enjoy spending most of their time at home with their pup, working out, and having friends over for meals.

In their brief to Uno Interior, they asked for “functional, open spaces, and mid-century design with a hint of a wabi-sabi aesthetic”.

modern apartment with industrial touches

To start with, the designers have opened up the apartment by knocking down one bedroom to expand the social space, and have turned the formerly closed off kitchen into an open one with a generous island/coffee bar. The impact is dramatic where the kitchen, dining and living areas now sit as one large and seamless space, allowing interactions to flow unhindered.

To that end, the sofa is also unconventionally arranged to face the dining area for better conversation. This, instead of facing the television, which itself has been replaced by a movie projector (tucked within a mirrored drawer) and screen that comes down only when needed, but is otherwise hidden.

Wabi-sabi and industrial influence come forth through the raw, cement screeded walls and ceiling, as well as the locally-sourced vintage mirrored backsplash in the kitchen that carries imperfections and stories that come only with age. The apartment maintains a clean, modern aesthetic with smooth curves on the kitchen island and cabinetry and a consistent, almost masculine furniture selection predominantly in black finish, steel and glass.

One of the Barcelona chairs shown in the living room is an old one that the owners brought with them when they moved into this apartment. Other than that, much of the furnishings were carefully sourced with the help of Uno Interior or custom made to fit the space. For example, the open shelving display in the living area is a custom design in wood and steel that caters to the owners’ books and vinyl collection.

As seen in a growing number of ‘multi-duty’ homes these days, this modern apartment comes with an integrated home gym corner. Simple exercise equipment hang from the ceiling in a corner of the living area like part of the decor, allowing the couple to do their yoga and calisthenics workout.

In the bedroom, the raw coolness of concrete and vintage mirror panels are soften by a custom fabric headboard and plush bedding, while the iconic Anglepoise lamp, which can be easily repositioned to suit different tasks, has been chosen to light up the bedside.

The space also carries thoughtful details. For example, the black trimming on the wardrobe is not just a design feature but also caters for light switches.