Families who’ve taken a leaf out of their travel books have been extremely inventive with HDB designs of late — from McDonald’s apartments to industrial or minimalist decor.
But for this 5-room HDB flat nestled in the heart of Bukit Batok, a ryokan makeover was completed by Goy Architects and the results are simply phenomenal.
Let’s take a tour around the premises to glean some design ideas for our own BTO apartments.
Chic wood-panelled surfaces paired with rustic shoji – aka Japanese sliding doors – complete the living room’s overall homely look.
We love that natural light continues to peep through the vertical shafts of the shoji, to evoke a genuine ryokan or inn concept.
Minute details like the nude sofas and rattan mat complement the minimalist earthy tones of the design.
The tea set and ceramic tea cups look inviting and not out of the ordinary, complemented by weaved oblong lanterns that are low-hanging.
We imagine that kicking back after work, cross-legged on the mats with cups of warm matcha tea in hand would be a restful conclusion to the day.
There’s also a padded bench for hosting guests and for the family to gather around in the morning located to the right of the central living area.
An open kitchen concept – popular trend among new HDB owners – creates the illusion of space with a countertop that doubles up as a dining table.
We imagine that sitting at the table to enjoy a homecooked meal would be a relaxing affair as you’ll be able to watch the sunrise or sunset easily due to the angle of the set-up.
As we move into the kitchen, you’ll be able to observe the amount of work that went into creating a false ceiling, resembling the wooden cross beams used to build traditional Japanese houses.
Darker hues of wood surfaces and a large-tiled floor help to ‘declutter’ the space and add to a sense of openness in the kitchen.
We’ll continue the tour by stepping foot into the corridors of the flat, which appear to be elongated due to the choice of flooring & clever use of space.
The study area features a centrepiece in terms of a perfectly square lantern light, brightening up the room.
As for the windows which aren’t patterned after the shoji door designs, we recognise a textured blind set-up that keeps the sun’s rays at bay during the day.
Though the apartment is huge, most of our time spent – ideally – is in the bedroom, enjoying a restful slumber. In this set up, tatami-style beds were not selected.
However, the grey sheets of a queen-sized bed still look equally comfy.
A large flatscreen TV situated across the bed is perfect for those late night Netflix sessions, or Sunday morning snuggle-ins.
Just because it’s a ryokan doesn’t mean that the house will be going off-the-grid, of course. We love that designers remembered to account for power sockets to charge residents’ phones before heading to bed.
No ryokan adventure would be complete without a trip to the onsen — aka hot spring or traditional Japanese spa.
This HDB flat’s toilet is an eclectic blend of modern and traditional design, bringing back timber wood panels from the kitchen & pairing it with a modern bathroom sink & toilet area.
Our absolutely favourite detail is the mini-onsen bamboo water scoop & stool for residents to sit on & wash their feet.
This cleverly rounds out the entire HDB ryokan experience, harkening back to how onsen visitors need to cleanse themselves before taking a dip in the hot spring.
Our public housing flats are where most of us call home, but that doesn’t mean that we need to stick to traditional design choices when we’re planning our renovation projects.
We’re glad that Goy Architects has done such dedicated work to transform a regular HDB flat into a loving homage to ryokan culture in Japan for this family.
What other beautiful HDB flat designs have you come across? We’d love to hear from you in the comments below.
Featured image adapted from Goy Architects.
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