PRACTICE
Medium Specific is a multidisciplinary design practice. We create experiences and environments that foreground the vicissitude of lifestyles, needs, and desires of its occupants. Informed by an architectural approach, our design process emphasizes an exploration of form as well as a responsiveness to context. The result of our work is a series of carefully calibrated encounters that reflect the social agency of spaces. Spanning a multitude of programmes including hospitality, residential, retail, exhibition, and commercial, the scope of our work is not limited to a particular typology.
NAMESAKE
The name Medium Specific is adapted from the modernist art critic and historian Clement Greenberg. In his essay, Towards a Newer Laocoön (1940), Greenberg declared that the proper domain of each art form should reflect, rather than diminish, the expressivity of its medium. This designation brings to the fore the inherent qualities of a space that is captured, enhanced, and enlivened through design.
Rather than focusing on style, or the trivialities of picturesqueness derived through imitation, Medium Specific believes that the innate characteristics of an environment must be derived from its form as well as particular context. Emphasising the arrangement of discrete elements, both abstract and material, form refers to the way a space is organised and codified. Whereas context concerns the social, historical, and cultural milieu of the site. A virtuosic deployment of form and an attunement to context purposefully orient one towards a space, making more vivid and full our experiences within it.
SERVICES
Design Consultancy
A bespoke design suite that encompasses creative direction, schematic design, spatial planning and technical drawings. A design consultancy allows for greater collaboration between the commissioners, designers, and builders. It is well-suited for concept driven spatial designs and implementations, such as retail experiences, exhibition environments, and so on.
Design & Build
A seamless turnkey solution where the design team oversees and manages the entire scope of the project—from concept to handover. A design & build service is ideal for residential projects requiring interior work.
For inquiries regarding our services, please reach out to us at [email protected].
The material palette chosen for Dirty Manners’ (@dirtymanners_ ) private retail space reflects the homegrown utility wear brand’s approach to contemporary wardrobing. It blends metal hardware with natural materials to create a scenography that reflects the mixed and varied terrains their garments are designed for.
DESIGN Medium Specific
PROJECT DIRTY MANNERS
PHOTOGRAPHY Zachary Chia (@zacharychia )
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#interiordesign #architecture #retail #utilitywear #singapore
A narrowed aperture frames the sight of the baristas brewing. It simultaneously creates a richer sense of arrival as one approaches the shopfront of Guerilla Coffee Suntec (@drinkguerilla ) from the atrium.
More details on “Guerilla Coffee Flagship,”can be found on our website.
DESIGN Medium Specific*
PROJECT Guerilla Coffee Flagship
PHOTOGRAPHY Khoo Guo Jie (@khoogj_ )
*This project was completed with Kate Lim (@weiwei_rongnumber ), and with the support of Avalon Collective (@avaloncollective ).
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#interiordesign #architecture #retaildesign #cafe singapore
“I like to call it the Picnic Room,”quips design director, Natalie Cheung (@nallocks ) in an upcoming short where she delves into adaptive design of her walk-up apartment.
DESIGN Medium Specific
PROJECT Picnic Room
DIRECTION Zachary Chia (@zacharychia )
CINEMATOGRAPHY Zachary Chia
EDITING Zachary Chia
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#interiordesign #architecture #kitchen #homeliving #singapore
Previously walled up and isolated, the kitchen is transformed into a convivial gathering space, where guests could be welcomed and entertained while preparation is underway. The kitchen as threshold thus became an anchoring spatial feature of Acute Apartment.
More details on “Acute Apartment,” can be found on our website.
DESIGN Medium Specific
PROJECT Acute Apartment
PHOTOGRAPHY accident (@accid_nt )
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#interiordesign #architecture #homeliving #singapore
In order to make room for a more spacious primary bath, the wash basin is moved into the extended corridor. Meanwhile, alternating tiles along the countertop and open shelves add a cheeky contrast.
More details on “Cone Flat,” can be found on our website.
DESIGN Medium Specific
PROJECT Cone Flat
PHOTOGRAPHY accident (@accid_nt )
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#interiordesign #architecture #homeliving #singapore
Honouring its former existence, while breathing new life into the space, Picnic Room carefully preserves the structural artefacts of the building, such as this wrought iron spiral staircase leading to the loft.
More details on “Picnic Room,” can be found on our website.
DESIGN Medium Specific
PROJECT Picnic Room
PHOTOGRAPHY Mazterz (@mazterz )
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#interiordesign #architecture #homeliving #singapore #joochiat
A radiant pop of red contrasts the warm and muted tones that populate Cone Flat. Painstakingly hand-stained by local fabricators Kii Workshop (@kii.workshop ), the scarlet pigment introduces an element of playfulness while enhancing the natural wood grain pattern of the custom dining table set.
More details on “Cone Flat,” can be found on our website.
DESIGN Medium Specific
PROJECT Cone Flat
PHOTOGRAPHY accident (@accid_nt )
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#interiordesign #architecture #homeliving #singapore
Double-layered cork panels from Panelogue （@thepanelogue ) serve as sound insulation creating an acoustically intimate environment, while adding a tactile dimension. Harvested from the bark of the quercus suber—more commonly known as cork oak—while leaving the tree intact and unharmed, the material is renewable and sustainably sourced.
Dirty Manners’ private retail space combines industrial fabrication and natural materials to convey the brand narrative of the homegrown design studio, which follows a birth between two worlds, urban life and wild spaces.
More details on “Dirty Manners,”can be found on our website.
DESIGN Medium Specific
PROJECT DIRTY MANNERS
PHOTOGRAPHY Zachary Chia (@zacharychia )
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#interiordesign #architecture #retail #fashion #singapore
Large-panel glass sliding doors and the placement of a window in the wall separating the balcony and the study allow for the terrace garden to be more readily accessible from all corners of the home. Further ensuring a sense of continuity between the home’s plant adorned interiors and the nearby greenery, views of the surrounding tree line were emphasised during the planning phase of the design.
Discover the design decisions that shaped Acute Apartment in an upcoming short, featuring owners Elliot Sng (@elliotsng ) and Jeanette Lim (@netterland ), as well as architectural designer, Ulrich Chia (@ulrichchia ).
DESIGN Medium Specific
PROJECT Acute Apartment
DIRECTION Zachary Chia (@zacharychia )
CINEMATOGRAPHY Zachary Chia
EDITING Zachary Chia
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#interiordesign #architecture #kitchen #homeliving #singapore
