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FIRM PROFILE Brewin Design Office is a Singapore-based architecture and design studio. Melding design experience with the crafting of spaces and objects, the studio creates architectural environments, structures, interiors and furniture that celebrate detail, workmanship and authenticity. Borne from passion, projects by Brewin are designed through meticulous visualisation and studio trials that are engineered in collaboration with artisans. This cross-functional approach blurs conceptual boundaries between different types of work, allowing us to approach Architecture, Interior Design and Furniture with the same rigorous attention to detail and insistence on originality and authenticity. The end results are uniquely conceived design concepts that are executed through in-depth level of experimentation with fabrication techniques, and innovative methods of detailing and using materials. In the past three years, Brewin has gained a breadth of experience with designdriven projects, such as custom furniture for show units and private residences, bespoke interior architecture for residential apartments and bungalows, interior design for art galleries and retail shops, and master planning for hotel villas. The studio dedicates a high degree of personal attention and expertise to each project, allowing clients to impart their own identities to them. Brewin has in its senior management, a group of dedicated designers with past experience in renowned offices and built-project expertise across a variety of scales, in Singapore, Hong Kong and Indonesia. 2
ROBERT CHENG, PRINCIPAL Brewin Design Office was founded by Robert Cheng in 2012. Robert received his Bachelor of Architecture from the Rhode Island School of Design and Masters of Architecture in Urban Design from the Harvard Graduate School of Design. Under the four-year mentorship of Calvin Tsao of Tsao & Mckown Architects in New York City, Robert was the lead designer for the award-winning project - The Cipriani Residences at 55 Wall Street, and was also involved in various other interior projects, which ultimately cemented in his growth, an extensive knowledge and experience in the history of furniture-making, styling and decorating interior environments. Robert later relocated to Paris to join Atelier Jean Nouvel, the 2008 Pritzker Prize winner, where he influenced the conceptualisation and design of three major projects in South-east Asia - a 1.5-million sqft mixed-use development for Mapletree Investments Pte Ltd, Singapore; a private luxury condominium for Wingtai Holdings Ltd, Singapore; and a serviced apartment development for Fraser and Neaves Ltd, Australia. Robert also belonged to the core design team for the MOMA Tower (Tour Verre) in Manhattan NYC. Robert has a breadth of experience, from Urban Design to Furniture Design. In his 15 years of practice, Robert has taken interest in the scales between Industrial/Furniture Design and Architecture, crafting spaces that are a kit-of-parts and designing feature elements that are pieces of architecture in themselves. Having worked with traditional craftsmen across Australia, New York and Paris, Robert has in-depth knowledge of detailed interior construction. His core foundation in an art school such as RISD also earlier exposed him to different Artisans and craft mediums, hence his interest in cross-disciplinary collaborations, and in experimental fabrication and unusual materials. 3
ARDMORE PENTHOUSE, 2015 4
FAT COW, 2013 5
Harnessing our love for art and functionality, we craft spaces with an architectonic approach that preserves contextual integrity, while experimenting with novel uses of material, to design feature elements within spaces that are pieces of architecture in themselves. - Robert Cheng THE WINGED HOUSE, 2015 6
BI-FOLDING FULL-HEIGHT METAL OPERABLE SCREENS IN THE SCREENED HOUSE ALLOW FOR VARIED LEVELS OF PRIVACY THE SCREENED HOUSE, 2015 7 Brewin Design Office has designed a range of typologies, from a multi-purpose permanent installation for the Singapore Pinacothèque de Paris museum (2015), to injecting a lofty three-storey space in an existing stairwell (The Screened House, 2014), and constructing a ceiling structure of timber cubes that conceals building pipes while delineating the dining spaces of the Fat Cow restaurant (2013).
AESOP RAFFLES CITY, 2015 8
HANA RESIDENCE, 2014 9
Brewin Design Office approaches each environment with the fervour of an artisan; through careful pairing of every design to the program of the space, consistent pursuit of new ways to perceive spaces, and rigorous attention to every detail. To suit the contemporary Japanese aesthetics in the Hana Residence (2014), furnishes were designed in the style of architectural heavyweights who have spent time honing their craft in Japan; for the home of an Art Collector (Ardmore Penthouse, 2015), an informal composition in the communal area offers a variety of seating arrangements that affords a full view of art swathed in natural light; meticulous details in the design of the Centennial Tower Executive Lounge (2012) reflect the influence of Carlo Scarpa s architecture, reaching back to the inspiration 1950s Italian design. ARDMORE RESIDENCE, 2014 10
ARDMORE PENTHOUSE, 2014 11
THICK BRONZE SPIRAL STAIRS LEAD TO THE SINGAPORE PINACOTHÈQUE DE PARIS VIP VIEWING ROOM SINGAPORE PINACOTHÈQUE DE PARIS VIP LOUNGE, 2015 12
Breaking the hierarchical distinctions between architecture, interior design and art, Brewin Design Office fuses the inherent qualities of each of these fields through original thought. BRASS CAGE STOOLS AND CUSTOM-DESIGNED TAI PING RUG 13
BREWIN COLLECTION SOLID IRANIAN TRAVERTINE TABLES ON CUSTOM 10-METRE OMAR KHAN CARPET 14
For further information, please contact our office: jamie.phua@brewindesignoffice.com +65 6887 5917 76 Guan Chuan Street #03-22, Singapore 160076 15 Updated November 2015