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02 / 07

Sora

An apartment on the thirty-second floor, reduced to concrete, shade and a few good things.

Floor
32nd
Area
186 m²
Year
2026
Sora: a concrete room with a single chair in side light

Fig. 01 — The living room in north light, the only chair we kept.

01The shell

Thirty-two floors up, two bedrooms too many and a corridor where the light should be.

Bought as a shell with two bedrooms too many and a corridor where the light should have been. We took it back to the structure and added as little as we could.

The apartment faces north and east. The sun reaches it only before nine; for the rest of the day the light is even, grey and generous — if the walls let it through.

A deep window high above the city, the view framed in dark mullions
Fig. 02The view to the north-east, before.
Low sofa beside a deep window in grey light
Fig. 03The same window, after: a low sofa and nothing above sill height.

02Taking walls away

New walls stop short of the facade and of the ceiling, so the morning crosses the whole plan.

Washi screen1234ABC0102030405060708Glass to the north, floor to ceilingGlass to the eastLift lobby17 50011 500N0125m
Dwg ID-101SoraPlan, as builtScale 1:100Noma / KL01 Entry02 Kitchen03 Dining04 Living05 Study06 Bedroom07 Bath08 Oak joinery wallSolid: existing structure. Hatched: new walls, 2 400 high. Dotted: morning light, 07:30–09:00.

03Grey light

We painted nothing white. Lime-wash in a warm grey takes the flat light and gives it back softer.

The new walls are 2.4 metres high under a 3.1-metre slab. Above them the ceiling runs unbroken from window to window; at night a single concealed line of light along their tops is enough for the whole flat.

A kitchen with a green marble island, a pale oak stool and grey cabinetry under a concrete ceiling
Fig. 04Kitchen: one block of green marble, everything else grey.
A bed in white linen against a concrete wall, a small lamp on a white side table
Fig. 05Bedroom, against the old core wall.
Two tall timber chairs against a concrete wall lit from above
Fig. 06Two chairs we kept.

04Four materials

  • 01

    Ground concrete

    The existing slab, ground back and sealed. Its old cracks are left to show.

  • 02

    Lime-wash

    A warm grey, three coats, brushed. It is never quite one colour.

  • 03

    Smoked oak

    Every door and drawer, from one batch of timber, oiled not lacquered.

  • 04

    Washi

    Sliding paper screens to close the bedroom without closing the light.

05 Facts

Location
Mont Kiara, Kuala Lumpur
Type
Residential
Year
2026
Scope
Interior
Area
186 m²
Status
Completed
Floor
32nd of 41
Duration
7 months on site
Materials
Ground concrete slab, Lime-washed walls, Smoked oak, Washi paper