The Disappearing Boundary

Interior Space Renovation of Shenyang Tingyuexuan Residence

The clients of this residential renovation project are a young married couple. After confirming that they are the absolute users of the apartment, we changed the traditional floor plan of “three bedrooms, two living rooms, and two bathrooms” into one of “a large suite + multi-function room”. Except for the walk-in closet, washrooms, and multi- function room north of the apartment, all the redundant walls were removed to create a super-large and borderless open space. The best-lighted south part is designed as a living room and a master bedroom without walls between them, and they are partitioned by a slidable round fabric curtain to create a readily invisible border. The fabric curtain is soft, cozy, and able to surround the master bed. Its degree of the enclosure determines the level of interaction between the master bedroom and the external space, returning the right to define space to the owners.

In the overall layout, each auxiliary functional area is no longer independent of the main functional area and separate but is flexibly distributed in the places where the owners need them the most. For example, the bathtub and the makeup area are not included in the bathroom but are organized on the two sides of the master bedroom separately for the convenience of the owners. For another example, we hid the projector screen between the master bedroom and the sofa area and meanwhile designed the white wall in front of the bed as the wall for projection, to satisfy the viewing needs of the owners under different states of living. We tried to create a residential model where different functional spaces penetrate each other without clear borders and can change freely. Apparently, this is a whole new mode of life.