Refined furnishings, eye-catching accents and extravagant proportions reign supreme at the interior-architect Dara Huang’s Chelsea home
She came across the property online and was immediately drawn to its monochrome palette and open living spaces. Built in the 1850s, the home is set over five floors with a glass lift at its centre, and includes a glorious roof terrace with views across the communal gardens. The rooms are spacious with high ceilings, worn white-washed floorboards and original cornicing throughout. It provided the perfect base for Huang to incorporate her signature sleek but cosy aesthetic, with luxurious textiles in warm colours, vast mirrors covering entire walls to cleverly magnify spaces, and sculptural pieces that play with scale. Huang’s architectural background is evident in the clever configuration of the rooms, where the furniture is carefully arranged to promote easy conversation.
Born in Florida, Huang studied at Harvard University before moving to Switzerland to take a role at the leading architectural firm Herzog & de Meuron, where she worked on structures including Tate Modern and New York’s Jenga Tower.
But reaching such career heights in her twenties left her eager for a challenge. ‘I was working at the best office in the world, and I thought, “Where do you go from there?”’ she says. The answer, it turned out, was London, where in 2013 she established her own architecture and interior-design practice, Design Haus Liberty, at the age of 29.