Home tour: Luxury penthouse gallery in Kuala Lumpur’s Troika tower

The original apartment had four bedrooms, but now that would have to be increased to six. What Blu Water Studio did was to transform 2 of the bedrooms into 4 compact ones. The resulting rooms were provided with storage space below the beds’ platforms and were based on work that the same studio had already done for citizenM Hotel KL.

In order to mitigate any sense of constriction, Lai shares that special attention was paid to the living, dining and entertainment areas: “we carved out family spaces where the client’s kids and friends can hang out when they are back in town”.

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The emphasis was on creating a sense of spaciousness and seamlessness. One way in which this was achieved was by incorporating the air-conditioning grille and track lighting into a thin recessed slot.

Lai points out that “this helped us in establishing a clean and organised ceiling design”.

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In the kitchen, there is a drop-down cabinet, which was the result of close cooperation between Blu Water Studio and the owner, who has a background in engineering.

This feature contributes to the streamlined, uncluttered layout of the kitchen. And then, there are the sliding decorative panels in the formal living room, which allow the same space to transition smoothly from one type of event to another.

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The centrepiece of the whole residence would have to be the two stand-alone wine cellars. Dubbed the ‘wine lanterns’, these glinting structures of glass and steel tie in seamlessly with the glass and steel of the penthouse’s wraparound windows.

In terms of both form and function, these full-length display cases serve as the focal point of the dining room and the entertainment area.

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The finishings were chosen in such a way as to sustain a sense of elegant restraint throughout. Again, the overarching goal was to achieve coherence and seamlessness.

Minimalist materials and colour palettes were thus favoured. One important effect of this understated approach was that the interior complemented, while also drawing subtle attention to, Troika’s iconic concrete fins.

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Besides that, the design team used white textured paint in the arrival lobby. Lai explains that “while still stark, the paint brings a sense of warmth and builds the expectation of a gallery lying beyond.”

The philosophy of restraint might also be seen in Blu Water Studio’s decision to retain the original flooring and the original bathroom materials. Lai points out that this not only made for lower costs but also “was an important initiative for sustainability since there was no wasting of resources or energy.”

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Naturally, the majority of the pieces in the residence were sourced from the furniture brands stocked by the clients’ own company. Especially memorable is the informal living room’s whimsical curved sofa by Liu Jo Living. Dotted throughout are pieces from the Italian design company.

Some of the lighting options are from Cappellini as well, but there are also key pieces from Lasvit, which produces lamps that cover the range from elegant to playful. Lai confides with a laugh that “our favourite part of the project was actually selecting pieces from the clients’ represented brands.”

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