A Marina Bay condo that gives up a bedroom for hosting

In this 893-square-foot apartment at The Sail @ Marina Bay, a young couple engaged HID Studio to turn their two-bedder into a one-bedroom home to better suit the way they actually live — cooking with friends, pouring drinks, and settling into conversations that last well into the night.

The original plan was more conventional, with enclosed rooms limiting both movement and light. Removing the second bedroom changed that dynamic entirely, allowing the apartment to enjoy an open and more spacious social area where living, dining and kitchen merge more naturally. It’s not simply an open-plan home, but one centred around use: a place where preparing dinner, sitting down to eat and having people over all happen within the same shared setting.

Rather than relying on walls, the space is organised through furniture placement and atmosphere. A low-slung seating area anchors the living zone, while the dining table sits centrally, acting less as a formal setting and more as a point of convergence — where meals, drinks and conversation blur into one.

The kitchen follows the same logic, with the island working as prep surface, bar and gathering point. That approach also extends to the bay windows, which are reworked as usable seating and subtle spatial extensions rather than treated as residual recesses.

Material choices reinforce this reading. Stone surfaces, warm timber, and darker flooring ground the space, while sculptural elements — like the pendant lamp above the dining table or the copper cylindrical basin against bold stone patterns in the guest bathroom — introduce moments of character without making the space feel busy. Storage is designed to recede, allowing the visual field to stay composed even when the home is in full use.

Lighting is where the project becomes particularly attuned to the couple’s routines. During the day, the apartment leans on natural light filtered through sheer curtains and blinds, moderating the brightness from outside. By evening, layered lighting takes over — cove glows and low-level accents gradually shifting the mood into something more intimate and conducive to lingering.

The bedroom, in contrast, pulls back. Tucked away from the main space, it adopts a more restrained palette. The bed sits on a raised, angled platform and bedside niches neatly serve as side tables. After the energy of the living areas, it reads as a necessary counterbalance — a place to retreat without competing for attention.

What this project ultimately demonstrates is that space planning isn’t just about efficiency — it’s about designing the perfect fit.

HID Studio
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Photography by Marcus Lim

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