Stylish studio apartment with mid-century modern and colonial touches, Tiffany blue kitchen and ‘jewel box’ bathroom makes the most of Hong Kong vernacular architecture
- A flat in a 1960s corner building in Hong Kong’s Sai Ying Pun area with ‘good bones’ was transformed from ‘boarding house accommodation’ to glorious studio flat
- A sweep of steel-framed windows in the corner-building unit makes the most of its harbour view, as does its one-room layout with open-plan Tiffany blue kitchen
After Ralph Southampton was released from a three-week stint in a quarantine hotel in Sai Ying Pun in 2021, he stayed in the old Hong Kong Island neighbourhood for his first meal of freedom.
Despite having lived in Hong Kong for 21 years, he was not familiar with the area, but a brief wander around was enough to motivate him to return for a second visit.
A 1960s corner building, a fast-disappearing example of Hong Kong vernacular architecture, piqued his interest, so when he spotted an estate-agency advertisement for an apartment in the same block, he went in on a whim.
“I was not in the least bit in the market for a flat but simply curious about the building,” says Southampton, a North American writer and keen open-water swimmer, who describes the property as “basic boarding-house accommodation” when he first viewed it.
When Alec saw the apartment and said it had amazing potential, I knew my gut instinct had been correct
The 645 sq ft (60 square metre) flat had been divided into three tiny bedrooms, a galley kitchen and a crude bathroom, yet he could see it had good bones, offering the promise of a long sweep of windows which, back then, were chopped up by partition walls. He made an offer the next day and two months later he was a homeowner.
His friend of 20 years and fellow swimmer Alexander Stuart, who runs the Hong Kong-based design and architectural firm Alexander Stuart Designs, agreed to take on the renovation, which took 16 months.
