Dusk and Dawn
As the sun rises, people draw open the curtains to embrace the light, reaching for their dreams and grasping what they desire. When the sun sets, they reflect on the highs and lows of life, contemplating the places they wished to reach but couldn't. For Degree Design, a home should embrace its owner's hopes, achievements, and disappointments from dawn to dusk, offering solace and redemption within its walls.
A space that accommodates daily life should not be confined to a fixed template. The homeowner wanted their second home to diverge from the modern minimalism of their previous residence, leaning instead towards a bright, Japanese-inspired style. Degree Design responded by constructing a Japanese aesthetic framework with light wood floors, cabinets, latticework, and white walls and shelves.
However, the designer did not allow style to constrain the possibilities of life. They introduced elements such as gray paint, nude-colored tiles, dark ironwork, and slightly intricate stone textures, enriching the space with modern touches that blend seamlessly into the homeowner's preferred Japanese style, opening up new possibilities for life.
In addition, the designer incorporated both vertical and horizontal traffic flows into the existing square layout. The use of sliding lattice doors and fluted glass doors allows for flexible movement within the space, creating distinct areas that provide privacy when needed. This design allows light to penetrate and air to circulate freely, ensuring that the space remains open and accommodating to all aspects of daily life.
What's more intriguing is the intersection of flexible ambiguity and minimalist order, which gives rise to an extraordinary spatial experience. When one looks across the parallel lines of movement, they can see a carefully designed, comforting vista at the end, offering residents a genuine and beautiful escape from the ordinary.
The space reveals unique settings through its flexibility and includes a multifunctional room with a table, chairs, wooden cabinets, and a daybed. This room can serve as a workspace or easily transform into a living area for visiting friends and family. In this independent and self-sufficient phase of life, the designer skillfully blurs the boundaries between private and public spaces, creating an environment that warmly welcomes others.
Furthermore, the bathroom, hidden behind the white, linear sofa-back wall, was originally two small, windowless rooms that the designer merged into one. A mirror extending across the sink enhances the visual space, while indirect lighting connects the area and maintains its transparency. The newly created aesthetic space fosters a sense of ritual beyond the everyday, accommodating the boundless inner world that lies between morning and evening.
