MeyerHouse is a five-storey, luxury condominium designed by WOHA, and developed by UOL Group and Kheng Leong Company. Each of the 56 residences come with its own private lift lobby and access. The C-shaped building has an internal courtyard, which is landscaped as an English garden and faces an adjacent park.

While the architecture, defined by a façade of customised louvres and ribbed panelling, is entirely modern, it draws from the intimate proportions of a traditional French Chateau. Canadian design studio Yabu Pushelberg designed the interiors.   

The architectural narrative influenced the design of a show unit by Massoneong for the development, which it interpreted as “a modern French townhouse laced with Asian influences in art and artefacts,” says the firm’s co-founder Vanessa Ong. This translates to a rich base palette of materials and bold furniture pieces.

The four-bedroom ground floor unit comes with a private lap pool and Jacuzzi. “We designed the layout of the main living and dining space outward facing to take advantage of the views into the private pool and English garden beyond. The spatial planning is very much focused on how one would enter and experience the space. We curated a vignette that would evoke a feeling and tell a story,” Ong explains.

Upon entry, one is welcomed by the sinuous curves of the iconic Pierre Augustine Rose sofa in burnished orange chenille fabric from Pierre Frey, which contrasts with the high-gloss lacquered coffee table – also from Pierre Augustine Rose. Other pieces adorning the living room are from French and Italian brands like Ceccotti, Collection Particuliere and Galotti&Radice, with a wispy Meshmatics light pendant from Moooi above the dining table. A custom-designed shelf in sandblasted solid oak is a strong sculptural backdrop against these icons, Ong highlights.   

In the master bedroom, a De Gournay wallpaper sends hand-painted gilded silk fishes swimming behind the bed, whose custom leather bedhead and base are finished in caramel leather to further elongate the proportions of the space. Shapely pieces such as ebony and lacquer bedside tables from Flou, table lamps from Liaigre, a Minotti armchair and a bench from Atelier Pendhapa introduces a calm atmosphere.

The other three bedrooms – one a junior master suite, one imagined as a lounge and another as a study – are adorned and finished in similar fashion, where curves and standalone pieces dominate. The focus is not just on the decorative. Ong asserts that a consideration of scale, proportion, choice of palette and texture all play extremely important roles in the interior design and styling, and add an element of visual delight and tactility to the visual experience.  

The show unit exhibits the firm’s strength in mixing textures and forms, in framing sceneries and creating attentive mise en scène. The challenge was to be able to appeal to a wide range of buyers while creating a sense of “imperfection” within the styled interiors – a key element that makes the show unit feels like a real, lived-in home rather than a commercial product.   

“Show flat interior design has inevitably become cookie-cutter templates, with mirror-panelled walls to extend the space and sometimes a visual overload of details to impress – and sometimes distract – buyers,” comments Ong. “Our challenge is to bring back a sense of reality into these spaces,” she adds.

To do this, she envisions the lives, routines, and indulgences of real, well-travelled personalities – down to the scents, and tableware and glasses they would use to serve their guests in. In this project, Ong curated an elaborate set-up that includes commissioned mixed media canvases by British artist Jared Green, and a tea set from Hermes in the master bedroom.

“For all our show units, we strive to create immersive interior spaces that would hint and evoke the imagination of the viewer. Art and artefacts are sourced from all over the world to breathe life and character beyond the aesthetic qualities of the spaces.”

Photography by Studio Periphery

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Meyerhouse 4BR Show Suite

Client: Khen Leong Co.
Location: 128 Meyer Road, Singapore
Design Firm: Massoneong
Project Manager & Team: Vanessa Ong, Elisa Massone
Landscape Architect: Ramboll Studio Dreiseitl
Date of Completion: April 2022
Total Floor Area: 301 sqm

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