Text description provided by the architects. The living room is a place for gathering, a space for parents to spend time with their children and a place for workshops and events. Spatial flexibility, mobility and privacy are key considerations in integrating and layering of key functions such as concierge, event space, library, parents’ zone and washroom.
This child’s garden of curiosities is set in a forest clearing and is surrounded by 3-dimensional treehouse stages for curated events. The space is illuminated by a canopy of large backlit tree leaves and colourful forest birds sitting on branches. The forest floor is lined with child friendly stepped seating that also houses space for books and cushions in the colours of the KerryOn brand. The colours in hues of orange, yellow, blue and green are used throughout in the spirit of a fun place to be.
Activities like parent-child yoga, arts and crafts workshops, movie screenings and marketing launches are held in the forest clearing. A large artwork and projection wall faces the clearing and is visible from the entrance to “the living room” an attractor of curious passersby.
Treehouses
The “Open House” which sits at the threshold of the living room and the shopping mall houses the concierge, storeroom and washroom. A privacy screen formed by a “forest fence’ with integrated shoe storage for leaning on, reading and phone charging while parents wait for their children.
The “parents’ menagerie” terraced seating with locker storage is a hangout space where parents can watch and engage with activities. The area also contains an information panel and vending machine.
The “Learning House” is an extension of the terrace seating around the forest clearing and is the most private space of within the “Living room” with library shelves and reading “nooks” clad in padded fabrics.
The KerryOn Living Room was inspired by Henri Rousseau’s naïve paintings of exotic landscapes, an environment that we believe would be exciting and inspiring for young children.
— Stephen Pimbley, Director of Spark.
Forest fauna and flora
The layout, scale and detail of the KerryOn “Living Room” are designed ergonomically prioritising child safety with ease of adult monitoring. The theme of the enchanted forest is applied across the spatial planning and design detailing. Timber textures are applied across the majority of the interior with “touch and feel” lively orange, yellow green and blue tones of the KerryOn visual identity providing contrast.
The treehouses are designed with abstracted silhouette cutouts of overlapping tree branches, detailed with functional devices camouflaged in mini versions of the treehouses and the forest bird lights.
A playful glowing KerryOn super graphic “K” greets passers-by at the threshold of the Living Room welcoming members to the Enchanted Forest and a culturally enriched day out at the mall. According to Stella Zheng, the project manager, the team aims to create a parent-child care design which offers liveliness and great memories for users of the space.
