INTERNATIONAL

nc design & architecture

Timber House, Hong Kong

Hong Kong is about the last place you would expect to encounter a tree house. Yet there you’ll find a wood cabin with a simple gabled outline that a child might draw, suspended 12 feet above the street amidst tropical foliage. Conceived by NCDA principal Nelson Chow, the cabin marks the entrance to a new 30-story residential complex by architecture firm AGC Design. It is also an invitation into a world of curiosity and childlike wonder where, Chow says, “I want people to feel that anything is possible.” Communal amenities span the second floor. A lounge, dining area, and kitchen occupy a terraced corner space overlooking the adjacent forested hillside—a shock of green that’s echoed in the finish on the kitchen cabinetry. Custom French trompe l’oeil wallpaper brings a librarylike calm to the lounge, which is furnished with its own suspended cabin similar to the one down on the street. A third of the floor is dedicated to a play area that includes more of the little structures. Floating above a ball pit, padded activity zone, and reading nook, they are connected by tubes, like a miniature cloud-borne city built for and governed by children. —Michael Snyder

PROJECT TEAM: NELSON CHOW; JOHN LIU; RAIN HO; RAFAEL PARDO; JASMINE KONG; EDDIE WONG.

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