The interplay of light, colours, and materiality

Commissioned during COVID-19, when Hong Kong was under strict travel bans and social restrictions, Harbour Home is conceived as a meditative place for the owner and his family.

In Buddhist philosophy, light and darkness are not oppositional but complementary. We tend to seek light in darkness, not knowing that it is the darkness that makes the sense of light more profound. In Harbour Home, we bring awareness to both light and darkness through materiality.

As one moves away from the window, darkness turns one’s attention inward, guiding one to a more meditative state. A wide range of dark materials, including black oak, black granite, black lava stone, black paper cord, dark concrete paint, and greyish ceramic tiles, are used. Spatially, dark space also adds a sense of depth to the breath of space created by light materials.

Our perception of light and dark materials changes as the light changes. During the day, the light-oak living room and black dining room may appear to have a stark contrast. At dusk as the sun set, the evening light diminishes the boundaries between the light and dark materials, what we used to perceive as “contrast” now becomes united, and what we used to see as two spaces now becomes one.

In the bedroom, a bespoke tapparelle shutter screen conceals the television mounted on the wall.  Plenty of built-in storage is designed to let the living room breathe. A custom-made onsen ofuro is installed in the bathroom for ultimate relaxation.