A Home for Art and Solitude

Architect Chun Hooi Tan of Core Design Workshop remodelled his Subang Jaya family home to embrace a more introverted lifestyle while making space for the extensive contemporary art and design collection he shares with his wife

Design Anthology: Can you tell us about yourself and your family’s lifestyle? 

Chun Hooi Tan: I met my wife, Scarlette, in 2008 and we’ve been working together on developing our careers and our common passions for architecture, design and fine arts ever since.

I run an architectural design practice, Core Design Workshop, and Scarlette runs a contemporary art gallery. We started at the same time in 2010 with the fundamental goal of promoting Malaysian contemporary art and design internationally. We’re both avid collectors of Malaysian contemporary art and our lifestyle very much revolves around that.

The project, named Introverse, is your family’s home. What brief did you set yourself for the design? 

The periods of lockdown induced by the pandemic in 2020 made us realise that the confined layout of our original 1980s house was affecting us all, both mentally and physically. Back then, our son was only two years old, and we really wanted a healthy space for him to grow up in. That’s when we decided to fully remodel the house.

What’s unique about the building and the location? 

The house is a semi-detached, single-storey property located on a triangular plot of around 560 square metres of land. We live in Subang Jaya, one of the most successful township developments in Malaysia outside of Kuala Lumpur. Our home is just a stone’s throw from a bustling area with different activities and attractions like boutique cafes. The surrounding houses were built in the 1980s, with lush pockets of greenery scattered around the neighbourhood. 

How did you approach the project — what design references did you try to incorporate into the space?

During the lockdown in 2020, I came across an article about an extreme introvert who, for the first time in her life, felt like she was perceived as ‘normal’ in the eyes of society. Introverse was born out of this social context, where standards and perceptions were suddenly reversed. The approach for the project defies social norms and puts the introvert lifestyle to the test; the home is organised to suit an introvert, as opposed to more common outward-facing houses.

Our approach for the architecture started with redefining the garden. Through a full-height linear garden wall suspended on a steel structure, we created a new walled garden within the garden, evoking ancient Chinese architecture or the layout of Japanese Zen gardens. This walled garden area houses the kitchen and the bathrooms, which are integrated freely with no physical walls defining the individual areas. 

The philosophy of minimalism is reflected not only in the spatial organisation of the house, but also in the material selection, architecture and interior finishings, and of course the art curation.

Please tell us a little about the material choices for the space. 

We limited the materials to concrete, steel and glass. The floor is finished with polished concrete from the entrance gate all the way to the main house, the rooms and the toilets, and the same stone was used for the walled garden’s gravel. The interior built-ins and fit outs, such as the wardrobe, bookshelf and kitchen islands, were custom designed and made in steel. 

Please tell us about some of the custom pieces for the space.

The main custom pieces are the two outdoor stainless-steel kitchen islands with glass tops. These islands function as kitchen facilities, but they stand freely within the walled garden, evoking stylised rocks in a Japanese Zen garden. The perforated metal open-concept bookshelf and wardrobes were designed to highlight ‘structured mess’ instead of hiding it, a way to reflect on our unnecessary hoarding habits. On the walls, artworks by prominent Malaysian contemporary artists were specially commissioned for the house. 

Do you have a favourite element or design detail in the architecture or interiors?

The interior was intentionally kept very minimal, like an empty canvas that allows the art to take over. We have a vast collection of Malaysian contemporary art which we carefully curated to match the architecture of the house.

Images / Ceavs Chua