A New Life

A modest 50-year-old flat gets a modern update for its new family.

- ISABELLE TOW

Space Three-room HDB flat

Location Toa Payoh

Reno period 20 weeks

Home to A family of four

Budget $75K

Being one of the first flats to be built in Toa Payoh in the ‘70s, its basic design reflects the Housing & Development Board’s then objectives to rapidly relocate residents en masse into high-rise flats during the country’s formative years. Half a century later, however, the apartment’s spartan layout is now dated and ill-adapted for modern living. Its small 670sq ft size, tight bedrooms, and closed-concept layout separating the spaces by their respective functions give the apartment a stuffy atmosphere and pose spatial challenges to raising a well-bonded family.

New owner Roy Ng and his missus decided to update the apartment so it would better meet their young family’s needs—they have two school-going sons. They consulted Derrick Lim, Fook Han Rong, and S. Kumar, design principal and project designers of D’Marvel Scale, and entrusted the renovation into their skilled hands. Besides the request to reconfigure the layout, the Ngs also relayed their desire for an island counter in the kitchen and mentioned the redundancy of a formal living room.