In part two of Rising Stars of Design we look at three design and architecture firms who have gained recognition for their noteworthy, spellbinding spatial creations. We look at the designers behind Under Cover Architecture, BDO, Studio Jencquel

Luke and Estelle Chandresinghe

LUKE AND ESTELLE CHANDRESINGHE
Firm: Undercover Architecture
Firm: London, UK and Provence, France

Leading a London-based practice of architects and designers, Luke and Estelle Chandresinghe established Undercover Architecture in 2012. Among many of early accomplishments, Undercover’s director Luke Chandresinghe had spent two years in Japan, fully immersing himself in the design world working alongside Koh Kitayama at his practice in Tokyo, while Estelle worked in textile design and lived in New York for a number of years promoting cutting edge fashion designers such as Marithé + François Girbaud, and Comme des Garcons. Luke is actively involved in the architecture, design process and management of the projects at Undercover, while Estelle leads the art direction, composing and invigorating ideas giving projects inspiration, ambition, playfulness We are committed to excellence, innovation, attention to detail and strategic thinking. Our projects are a result of the caring, creative and dedicated nature of our team and of our bespoke comprehensive knowledge offered to our clients. and adding a richness and layering to spaces that make Undercover’s projects unique.

HIGHLIGHT PROJECT
The brief for Mornington Terrace: For Mornington Terrance, Luke and Estelle Chandresinghe sympathetically restored a 19th century listed period house to its former glory, highlighting and expressing all its period charm whilst transforming the house into a fully functional home suitable for a modern family life.

Dining area at Mornington Terrace, London

The house’s many experimental pieces of joinery, fixtures, lighting, sanitary ware, glazing and furniture were exclusively designed and built by Undercover Architecture and partnering artisans, sculptors, and makers. For the home’s interiors, Luke and Estelle Chandresinghe used bold colour throughout to bring a bit of brightness into the house during the rainy London days, and brought in the welcoming warmth via shades of grey, which softened the indoor light.

Living room at Mornington Terrace, London

We are committed to excellence, innovation, attention to detail and strategic thinking. Our projects are a result of the caring, creative and dedicated nature of our team and of our bespoke comprehensive knowledge offered to our clients.

We are committed to excellence,
innovation, attention to detail and strategic
thinking. Our projects are a result of the
caring, creative and dedicated nature of
our team and of our bespoke
comprehensive knowledge offered to our
clients.

Robert Cheng

ROBERT CHENG
Firm: Brewin Design Office (BDO)
Firm: Singapore and Hong Kong

Robert Cheng is an architect, interior designer, and the founder of Brewin Design Office (BDO). Cheng spent his formative professional years at Tsao & Mckown Architects in New York City as an apprentice to architect Calvin Tsao, and later joined Atelier Jean Nouvel in Paris, before founding Brewin Design Office in Singapore in 2011. With broad experience in various scales, programmes and typologies, Cheng continually approaches his portfolio of luxury residential interior design and construction from a craft-oriented position. Taking his understanding of the tectonics in construction and specificities of materials directly into his process, Cheng developed a design principle for architecture closely related to “the making of things”, ensuring the basis for conceptual design discourse and procedure in his work. BDO’s work was shortlisted for the President’s Design Award in Singapore in 2016.

HIGHLIGHT PROJECT
The brief for Angullia Park Residence  Singapore: Located at TwentyOne Angullia Park, the high rise residential development by China Sonangol Land is situated in one of the busiest and most prominent commercial crossroads in Singapore – Orchard Boulevard and Scotts Road.

Angullia Park Residence

The building boasts 70 per cent curtain wall coverage, a feature that is unfamiliar and new as a typology for the residential market in Singapore. Brewin Design Office worked on a private residence in the complex – a 3,348-square-foot, four-bedroom duplex with a double-height ceiling on the fourth floor – to create a timeless design, incorporated with mindful details to elevate the quality of living and the understated elegance of the building.

Penthouse at Angullia Park Residence

Inspired by the landscape of beautiful large Angsana tree canopies that line Orchard Boulevard and Scotts Road, Brewin Design Office used an interior palette comprised of a variety of green tones to complement the three-sided view of the canopies and Verde Alpi marble as the primary material for a range of custom-designed furniture pieces.

Since the beginning, the relationship
between architecture, interiors, furniture
and product design has been a driving
force for our studio. Regardless of scale or
typology we have stayed true to our DNA,
applying rigorous research and
methodology to produce bespoke spaces
through exploring processes, function and
fabrication in super-luxury residential,
hospitality and corporate projects and will
continue developing this approach and
way of working, to translate the aesthetics
of our residential work to different and
larger typologies.

Maximilian Jencquel

MAXIMILIAN JENCQUEL
Firm: Studio Jencquel
Firm: Bali, Indonesia

Born in Venezuela and having studied in the USA and France, Maximilian Jencquel moved to Indonesia and established Studio Jencquel in Bali in 2011. Having worked for designers Andrée Putman and Christian Liaigre before starting his own studio, Maximilian Jencquel combines his tireless pursuit of craftsmanship and love for story-driven, meaningful design with his passion for tropical vernacular architecture. Jencquel’s current residential and hospitality projects around Bali showcase the designer’s deeply personal approach and connection to every step of the creation process. By utilising adaptive, sustainable design approaches, Jencquel and his team seek to bring the cultural aspects and meaningful nuances and create emotional connections with materials and physical structures.

HIGHLIGHT PROJECT
The brief for Umah Hati: Studio Jencquel’s Umah Hati embodies Jencquel’s principles of making the most of each project’s setting and context by envisioning a private villa that blends seamlessly with the surrounding environment.

Rumah Hati Residence in Ubud, Bali

The resulting design of the villa yields a timeless blend of Balinese vernacular and modernity, bridging the East and the West. Jencquel designed the L-shaped villa’s spaces to be as open to nature as possible, anchoring the dwelling around a lap pool that points towards the lush Ayung River gorge.

Using high-quality, local materials and sophisticated craftsmanship, Umah Hati blurs the boundary between the outdoors and the indoors, emanating tranquillity from the heart of the house to its surroundings. Read about Part 1 if you’ve missed it.

By drawing on the principles of slow
design and utilising adaptive, sustainable
design approaches, we seek a richness of
meaning and unique emotional connection
with material and physical structures.
Simply said: we design homes and we tell
stories