After a lifetime of mansion building · Steve Leung

In late 2019,

Designer Steve Leung is at Niseya, a ski resort in Hokkaido, Japan,

Built a 600㎡ holiday home for the family.

Houses are built in a way that is least disruptive to nature,

Like embedded in the woods.

A holiday home in the snow season

Floor-to-ceiling window area,

Even bigger than the actual exterior walls,

Introduce mountain views and tree shadows.

People stay in there, very relaxed.

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic,

When Steve Leung, a long-time Hong Kong resident, returned to his holiday home,

It's the end of 2022, the beginning of 2023.

Winter holiday home OOAK Niseko

OOAK means one of a kind, unique

This place in Hokkaido, Japan, is known for its white, fluffy powder snow and is a skier's paradise. Leung has been skiing since at least 20 years ago. Just before Christmas 2019, OOAK Niseko, a holiday home he built for his family in Niseko Valley, was completed. Then, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, they came back at the end of 2022.

△ A holiday home on the hillside

The holiday home is on a secluded hillside, surrounded by woods. Because the "standing" is high, it is very private, and passers-by cannot look into the house when they pass by.

All Windows use three layers of vacuum glass to enhance insulation and balance view and energy consumption.

Living room, window view in winter

In addition to the large Windows that "frame" the view into the interior, the house itself is also built according to the slope, shape and trend of the mountain: the building is a two-wing structure, as if it were embedded in the mountain. In this way, the house has the least damage to nature and the lowest construction costs.

In addition to the large Windows that "frame" the view into the interior, the house itself is also built according to the slope, shape and trend of the mountain: the building is a two-wing structure, as if it were embedded in the mountain. In this way, the house has the least damage to nature and the lowest construction costs.

Considering building in a foreign country, Leung called in Makoto Nakayama, a famous local architect whom he admired, and the two worked together to complete the building. One of Makoto Nakayama's most famous hotels is the "Sit in the Forest", which is also located in Niseya and is known as the most beautiful hotel in Hokkaido.

vestibule

When designing the house, Leung ran into some problems. If imported materials are used in Japan, the procedures are complicated and the cost is high. So he decided to try to use local materials, especially from Hokkaido, which is also environmentally friendly.

In addition, he wanted to use the least variety of materials to achieve the best effect, by changing the composition rather than stacking to present different atmospheres.

"I don't like it when people put different floor tiles in the living room, dining room and bedroom. The less materials you use, the purer it seems."

Front gate

garage

From the ski room to the corridor

The holiday home has two entrances: one is to walk up a flight of stairs and enter through the main entrance, which is "quite ceremonial"; The other, more commonly used in the winter, enters through the garage door, goes into the ski room, changes into snow clothes and snow boots, and then goes through a short corridor and up the stairs to the entrance.

Stairs to the living room

Steve Leung introduced that the floor tiles are made of environmentally friendly materials

The living room is actually an open area that integrates the living room, dining room and kitchen. The columns and other parts of the structure are made of fair-faced concrete.

Basically, the floor of the whole house is made of an environmentally friendly brick, and the walls of the bathroom are also paved with the same material, which echoes each other.

The long table was covered with thin pieces of porcelain

The long dining room table and the kitchen island, which appear to be metal, are actually covered with extremely thin pieces of porcelain, which are more durable than metal and which Mr. Leung discovered by accident in Hokkaido. The table also reserved a special spot belonging to the hot pot.

"Imperfect" metal plates with chromatic aberrations and textures

The splicing metal plate above the fireplace is not perfect, and there are color differences when you look carefully, "their color will continue to change with time, which is also a vitality."

kitchen

The kitchen of a vacation home is always more streamlined than the kitchen at home where you live every day. Leung is particularly attentive to tidiness and cleanliness, and simply integrates the refrigerator, stove top and storage space side-by-side into a "cabinet" system, hidden behind sliding or folding doors, ready to open.

"Close the cabinet door after use, and the whole living room is still very tidy. It's probably part of my personality to like a clean environment."

Corridor connecting bedrooms. Some of the hanging paintings are micro-photography works donated by Steve Leung's good friend Zeng Jianlong

A corridor connects the living room with the bedrooms. The corridors are lined with pine, which is cheap and common locally. The 3 bedrooms are spacious with terraces, especially the master bedroom of 94㎡.

OOAK Niseko is a holiday home for the whole family, and is also an important private home work of designer Steve Leung in recent years.

OOAK Niseko details

But for Steve Leung, there is always the same subject.

Data reference: https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_23343177