The Fang Apartment is a renovation project that challenges the stereotypical idea that the center of the apartment has to be an open space. The goal of this project is to create a compelling and dynamic way of connecting of all the spaces within the apartment, encouraging greater interaction between family members in their everyday life.

The entry of the apartment is in the middle of the space, just between the kitchen/dining and living room. Having the entry in this location cut off the connection between these three most important spaces in the home. The concept of this project is to create a central element and connect all the spaces together, just as a tree does. The “Tree” is composed of a series of wood cubes, starting from the floor and growing on the wall to the ceiling, forming the tree canopy.

When people first enter the home, they are welcomed by an abstract “landscape”, displaying artwork and pictures of the family. The landscape is composed of a series of cubes that vary both in orientation and size. The cubes extend horizontally and draw people’s eyes toward the living room and dining room on either side. The modular landscape continues to stretch to the drop ceiling and travels from the dining room all the way across to the living room. On the dining room side, the cubes are united to display the family library. The varying sizes of the cubes grow from the floor to the top of the wall and connect with the tree canopy in the ceiling. On the living room side, the cubes expand to create a niche for the daughter’s piano. This design allows for the opportunity to create a tailored lighting design throughout the entire landscape. In the living room, we were able to create a stage effect with the lighting when the daughter is performing on the piano.