Cultural Union visits a new artisanal residence designed by Joyce Wang Studio at the soon-to-launch Foster + Partners mega-development, The Whiteley.

A new star is rising in west London out of the ashes of the old Whiteleys shopping centre, a once-thriving Edwardian mall. Now rechristened The Whiteley, the property – all 1.1 million square feet of it – is one of the most significant developments in the Notting Hill-Bayswater area in years, and it has just unveiled a 4,080-sq-ft apartment interior designed by the London and Hong Kong-based Joyce Wang Studio.

Locals may remember Whiteleys as the slightly eccentric shopping centre with a multiplex cinema and a graceful though underpopulated interior. Its roots lay in the 1860s Whiteleys department store which, on its move to the current site in 1911, was reputed to be the world’s largest shop. But the elegant galleries and sweeping staircases never quite worked as a 21st-century mall, and it was eviscerated when the gargantuan Westfield shopping centre opened in nearby Shepherd’s Bush.

For all that, Whiteleys retained a special space in the popular imagination – in part for the extraordinary footprint and iconic façade of a building that inhabits a significant chunk of prime west London. So, it’s with considerable anticipation that its £1.2 billion re-imagining by architects Foster + Partners is awaited.

The plan – almost at fruition – was to keep the façade and iconic staircase and rebuild the rest as an elevated mixed-use property, anchored by the UK’s first Six Senses hotel, with art galleries, shops, an Everyman cinema (in a neat nod to its former life), and 139 homes. Of these, a handful have been earmarked for a series of Designer Collection properties – and the latest and perhaps grandest is the newly unveiled four-bedroom apartment by Joyce Wang.

Wang is a brilliant choice for a landmark property such as The Whiteley. The Hong Kong and London-based designer is no stranger to major luxury developments – her portfolio includes Mandarin Oriental residencies, hotel projects including The Berkeley, and retail properties for the likes of LVMH. She has impeccable global credentials, running multiple teams across the world, and is clearly comfortable working at this level. But crucially, she also brings quirkiness and a willingness to lean into emerging artisanal creators, together with a knack for balancing the exigencies of international luxury expectation with a Londoner’s eye for not overdoing the ostentation.

The approach to the third-floor apartment is from a portered private entrance from street level. A feeling of solidity, lots of fluted hardwood panelling, demure lighting and a pervasive sense of discretion and privacy. And for sure, that’s a major draw here. The location is spectacular, of course, with Notting Hill and Hyde Park on the doorstep, and all the amenities of the Six Senses Hotel at its fingertips. But it’s also the kind of space where one can leave an apartment for months at a time and know it will be serviced and secure in the interim.

The property opens onto a hallway with oak wooded parquet flooring. It’s welcoming and discrete – not overly large, but with the first of a series of notable design pieces – a marble-topped walnut credenza by Irish furniture brand Orior, establishing a modern artisanal feel that unfurls as you move through the apartment.

This is a four-bedroom, 4,080-sq-ft property, and it’s as you move into the main reception room that the apartment’s size becomes apparent. Double-heighted, with a glazed ceiling-height gallery and array of soaring windows on The Whiteley’s main eastern façade, it delivers the kind of wow-factor required of a £17m apartment, and it doesn’t disappoint.

But what sets the space alive is Joyce Wang’s deft design, with colours that are contemporary and not without edge, yet never overshadowing the room’s architectural harmony. It’s a substantial place, yet clever zoning enables it to feel human in scale, with a primary seating area conducive to intimate conversation, but also with enough grandeur to sustain full-scale entertaining. The corner sofa is designed by Joyce Wang Studio, and throughout, the space is enlivened by one-off contemporary, vintage and antique studio works.

The room is anchored by a fabulous 1867 Pinton tapestry at the dining end, with rugs by CC-Tapis. A marble fireplace, together with the sofa’s olive-green fabric, lends an Art Deco note, while a stainless steel Orior credenza and fringed Paolo Ferrari chair add some rock-star energy.

The reception room leads into an open-plan kitchen. It’s beautiful; but if these living areas provide the money-shot, it’s in the more intimate spaces of the upper rooms that the soul of the apartment reveals itself.

Firstly, there’s the staircase, lined with a custom wallpaper by Fromental. This leads to the mezzanine office – a cosy, low-ceilinged room, part study, part family room – which overlooks the living room from ceiling height. It’s a thrilling perspective, and a reminder of Wang’s skill in creating the liveable scale of the reception room – from up here, the space looks big enough to make even the grand piano appear small.

The four bedroom suites are a real highlight. A blend of antique and contemporary furniture and lighting, anchored by beautiful upholstered headboards, creates a feeling of elevated homeliness; and considering the position in thrumming Queensway, it’s absolutely silent.

Throughout the apartment, Wang has angled the decor, design and collectibles towards an imagined client who grazes across the world – both in recognition of its likely globetrotting buyer and a nod towards the international wares of the original Whiteley’s bazaar. The designer, in partnership with The Whiteley and its backers, Finchatton, MARK and CC Land, has created a highly impressive show apartment.

And while it may or may not be sold complete with all its contents (for around a £1m uplift), it’s worth pausing to consider this symbiosis between developer, interior designer and artisan. Such arrangements help the developers to market the property, of course, but they also provide a vital platform for all the artists, artisans, studios, craftspeople and small businesses creating the kind of work seen here, which is to be celebrated.

The Whiteley, 149 Queensway, London W2