A home conversion in NAPE by a husband and wife architect team
When Dominic Choi and his wife Carmen Chan returned to Macau from London, they stayed initially in a family apartment in NAPE opposite the MGM. They bought a home of their own in Taipa but soon realized that they’d come to love the NAPE area and wanted to return. “In Taipa we felt hemmed in, too crowded,” explains Dominic, “what we like about NAPE is the block to block distance and proportion, and that it’s not so high rise.”
“The famous Portuguese architect Alvaro Siza Vieira was here in the 80’s and took part in the urban planning and layout of the NAPE area,” adds Carmen. “It was designed to not be too high density, with not too many residents in one block, and this we appreciate about the place very much.” “We also saw the potential of the area with Macau’s second tier and growing business district within a couple of blocks walk away,” says Dominic.
Carmen originally hails from Hong Kong and Dominic from Macau. They met in Liverpool, England at the Chinese Gospel Church. Both were studying – she in high school; he, a university friend of her brother’s, was studying architecture. Carmen went on to study architecture herself; they kept in touch and eventually started dating. Fast forward a few years and they are now married, back in Asia and the proud parents of two young daughters, Xenia aged four and Ines aged two. 
The 1,900 sq ft home they’ve now settled happily into started out as a four-bedroom property, which they have redesigned into three bedrooms to better accommodate their needs.
“We spent almost a year of planning and renovation,” says Carmen. “I was pregnant with Xenia so there were a number of other priorities so we took our time”.
“Added to that, being architects it’s more difficult doing your own property and spending your own money!” laughs Dominic.
“We wanted to open up the space more, so we removed everything”. This included taking out the fourth bedroom so as to enlarge the living space and make room for a dining area. 
The remaining three bedrooms were all resized. The corridor leading to the bedrooms was moved over making way for a recessed area to hide the water heater, and to build in bookshelves and toy storage below.
There were three bathrooms and now there are two larger ones; the master bath holds a huge Jacuzzi that the children use on occasions as a swimming pool! 
The previous owner had already made oversized window openings – so all that was needed was for the glass to be replaced with laminated white glass, very effective in blocking out any sound of traffic below. Their living room view is that of the Grand Lapa clubhouse with its tennis courts and pretty gardens and resort. To the right of that, gleaming in burnished gold, is the Sands hotel and casino, and then the outer harbor and Friendship Bridge over to Taipa. In the distance helicopters from the Macau ferry fly by as do airplanes heading for the airport.
The kitchen was originally a small closed room to the immediate left of the entrance hallway, and this was flipped over to the other side and end of the hall, to take advantage of a window for natural light and to ‘square off’ the living room.
“It’s a semi open space – because of the often oily wok-fry style of Chinese cooking”, says Carmen, “we decided to put sliding doors on the kitchen entrance so that it could be closed off when we cook.” 
The doors are stainless steel framed with dark glass which provides an ingenious way of making the space feel much larger.
“This glass gives a better reflection,” explains Dominic, “like a mirror it reflects back the living /dining area and it’s also effective in hiding the inside of the kitchen.”
Another interesting design feature to the kitchen is the cabinets. In the majority of kitchens all cabinetry is a consistent one colour top and bottom but Dominic and Carmen opted to have gloss white above the counter top and oak coloured bamboo finish below and to the right to enclose the washing machine and double door Samsung refrigerator. Both cabinet types are heat laminated; the laminate wraps around the doors so no ugly join lines are visible. Locally sourced grey floor tiles are mixed with caramel coloured durable quartz wall tiles from Malaysia.
“For us, we wanted to simplify everything in our home; simple living and to have a comfortable space for the kids to run around in is important to us”.
Twenty-five cm wide laminate oak wood flooring was used throughout – an attractive warm colour palate, warm to the touch for little feet, and easy to keep clean. Furniture has been bought with the children in mind; case in point, the dining table, which is oval, not rectangular or square so there are no sharp corners. simplify everything in our home; simple living and to have a comfortable space for the kids to run around in is important to us”.
In the living room there are three large, sink-in-comfortable soft brown leather sofas and a relaxing-looking OSIM massage chair.
When sourcing doors, the ones available were considered far too ornate so these were custom made in white with the centre panel outlined in a simple elegant recessed rectangle. Hardware is in stainless steel.
Pride of place is a film projector suspended from the ceiling pointing to a 100” projector screen that lowers from the ceiling at the touch of a button. “With a young baby when we first moved in we realized it might be a while before we could go to the movies, so we built our own movie theater!” reasons Dominic.
When it comes to lighting, “neither of us like seeing the light source as in overhead lighting” so there is recessed LED lighting behind curtains, above wardrobes, and behind the master bed head. Other lighting sources are up lighting from table lamps and a couple of low floor lamps.
“Our AC system is the recessed ceiling type,” explains Carmen. “This gives much better circulation within a room and you don’t get that blown on you feeling”.
In the bedrooms, nearly all the furniture comes from everyone’s favourite shop, IKEA! They produce beautifully comfortable beds, space saving pull out sofas and made to fit wardrobes at affordable prices and of a minimalist, modern and functional design in keeping with the theme of this home. 
There are few pieces of artwork (“We’re waiting until the girls get a bit older before we put our precious pictures up!”) but most striking is a candle holder wall hanging on the dining room wall from MMH in Windsor Place, opposite the Causeway Bay IKEA, which brings in Malaysian and Indian artifacts. A white IKEA clock has been artistically attached by Dominic at the top right. In the entrance hall is an Indian-style wooden window with doors that open and close and a mirror back; this came from Indigo in Hong Kong.
With two architects in the family already, it comes as a surprise that there are yet more, both past and present! Dominic’s sister and one of his uncles are architects, his mother, father and brother are all civil engineers, and his grandfather, on his mother’s side, was José Chan (see box). 
And with this outstanding architect pedigree from Macau, it makes total sense that Dominic, together with Carmen, are the founding members and he the founding President of the Macau branch of Architecture Sans Frontieres. www.asfmacau.org.
Photographs are courtesy of well known local Macau-based photographer, Antonio Mil-Homens.
