Highpark Suites: A Seamless Blend of Urban Living and Green Spaces

Mil Yung Mak's Award-Winning Design Transforms Common Areas into Unique, Sustainable Communities

The design inspiration for Highpark Suites came from the desire to create spaces that consider both the residents and the tropical environment. The common areas are designed to serve as an extension of the residents' homes, with spaces such as a business centre, multipurpose hall, and sky courts. These areas are designed with bold graphics, lighting, dark tones, and pop colours inspired by sunrise and sunset, creating focal nooks for residents to work or play.

What sets Highpark Suites apart is its unique properties. The design of the interior common areas, which includes the lobby and entrance drop-off areas, sky courts, and amenity spaces, pushes the boundaries of traditional residential design. The spaces are designed for residents and visitors to use as an extension of their homes, creating a unique, sustainable, and holistic community for the Gen-Y.

The realization of the design involved the use of sophisticated timber veneers, bronze mirrors, curated artwork, customized rugs, and feature walls designed to look like art pieces. The drop-off featured high 18-feet curved ceilings, and the business centre featured customized workpods for private meetings. The children's room used easy maintenance polyurethane fabric and rounded edges for safety.

The design spans across 13 different areas over multiple floors, including a 490sqm Multipurpose hall and Business Centre, a 80sqm children's and party's room, a 130sqm gym and 16sqm library, and the sky court, sky deck and sky pavilion on 18th, 21st and 23rd floors.

Highpark Suites is a testament to Mil Yung Mak's innovative approach to design. The project, which started in June 2016 and completed in September 2020, overcame numerous challenges, including evolving design functions, technology, and briefs, a tight budget, and the need for close coordination with structural, M&E and architectural team consultants. Despite these challenges, the final design is a unique, sustainable, and holistic community that caters to the needs of the urban Gen-Y.

The design of Highpark Suites is not just about creating beautiful spaces, but about understanding how people live and use spaces. Through research and surveys, Mil Yung Mak was able to grasp how technology has changed the way people live and use spaces, and how the new urban generation prefers smaller, intimate areas, more landscaping, sustainable living, and cosy nooks. This understanding informed the design of Highpark Suites, making it a truly unique and innovative project.