Big ieas for small spaces.docVIP

Big ideas for small spaces Ping Wang describes the familys living conditions as lacking human dignity, sunshine and air. Photo provided to Shanghai Star When interior designer Ping Wang was tasked with the challenge of re-imagining a tiny lane house, home to four people, he was shocked at the cramped living conditions, but managed to transform the space into a comfortable family home. He tells Xu Xiaomin how he did it. Turning a dingy box room of 12 square meters into an attractive modern loft with four rooms, a kitchen and a bathroom may seem like a fantasy, but Taiwan-born designer and architect Ping Wang has done it. As part of the reality show Dream Renovator on Dragon TV, a small house on Nanjing Road East, the busiest shopping street in Shanghai, was picked from thousands of candidates hoping for a free makeover. Wang was appointed as the renovator. When I first saw the place, I was shocked. It was in a narrow lane. It was ridiculously small. It was oppressive, says Wang, who also serves as the design director of Shanghai Ping Design Studio. Most of his projects involve luxury clubs, high-end residential areas and office spaces. The owner Gu, 68, moved into the tiny lane house in 1957. It barely changed in more than half a century, except for suffering the ravages of time. Gu lives there with his son and daughter-in-law and their young child. Speaking before the renovations started, the young mother Xu Meixia, said on the show: I pray that somehow I can give my boy enough space to grow up healthily. At the time, the three-year-old boy ate and played on his bed in the dimly lit studio because there was no room to move. After his first visit, Wang decided the property was not only lacking in décor but human dignity, sunshine and air. He promptly accepted the challenge. He began by tearing down the toilet and kitchen that had been illegally built outside to allow light and air in and then added a horizontal partition into the 3.6-meter-high studio to create