When writer Elwin Chan decided to move out of his family home in Serangoon North, a residential section of Singapore filled with high-rises, he was seeking a stronger sense of community and street life. He was drawn to Tiong Bahru, an area closer to the center of the city that features low-rise Art Deco and International Style blocks built in the 1930s and ’40s.

Though gentrification has transformed many of Tiong Bahru’s mom-and-pop shops into chic cafes, the area’s historic architecture preserves its charm. “I like neighborhoods with character,” Elwin says. “I like that I can see people strolling past and watch bustling mornings fade to quiet, lazy afternoons.”

Elwin was delighted to find an apartment in a building dating to 1948 with many vintage features intact. There was plenty of appeal in its green terrazzo and mosaic floors, and Elwin liked how glass louvered windows, transom screens above doors and interior walls, and two balconies let ample light and cooling breezes flow through the space.

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Still, the apartment needed work. Through a friend, Elwin got in touch with architect Ling Hao, who creates idiosyncratic, nature-attuned spaces using simple materials. When Ling visited the apartment, he found the flexible existing layout refreshing compared to those of newer, compartmentalized dwellings. “I was thrilled with how I could stroll around the flat continuously, as each room had at least two doors,” he remembers. “Ambling about the apartment is akin to moving with the airflow.”

In his renovation, Ling created a rustic but comfortable space loosely defined by porous partitions. He left many features untouched, and any changes he made were inspired by the existing spatial rhythms and raw material expression. He removed a wall between the living room and kitchen so that, upon entering, one sees clear through the apartment to the green vista beyond the rear balcony.

In the bathroom, he added new flooring and replaced a wall with a sinuous, expanded metal mesh screen. New polished concrete counters perch on brick stems in the kitchen, while plywood cabinetry and shelves throughout the home complement its unpretentious personality.

This setting is perfect for Elwin’s easy, casual way of living with the environment and his objects. He recently shifted his writing desk to the greenery-lined rear balcony and the dining table to the library, which accommodates intimate gatherings next to his books and his cello. “And because the apartment is so open,” he says, “I get to feel like part of the neighborhood, which inspires my work and everyday life.”

“The rear balcony looks out to willow trees. I can see butterflies and birds nesting, and sometimes even hornbills.”
—Elwin Chan, resident

Project Credits:

Architecture: Ling Hao Architects

Construction: owood Designand Construction (65-6749-6316)

Photography: Fabian Ong / @fabian_ong_ar

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A Writer’s Singapore Apartment Gets a Breezy Refresh