[top photo: Getting the colours right was the biggest challenge for gallery designer Henry Yeo]

By Deepika Shetty

Unless you like being told off by security guards, resist the temptation to touch the lift door at the Asian Civilisations Museum.

The modern steel doors now look like an ancient Chinese door done up in red and brass. Although it is covered with wallpaper, the effect is startlingly real.

This trompe l'oeil effect is the work of Mr Henry Yeo, 40, assistant design director at the Asian Civilisations Museum. He has been working to re-create the Forbidden City in a gallery the size of four five-room HDB flats with an 8m-high ceiling since October last year.

To do that, he and his design team surrounded themselves with all things related to the Forbidden City. They read books, catalogues, articles and spent countless hours on the Internet.

The toughest task, he tells Life!, was getting the colours right.

He says: 'We read books and articles on the significance of colours in Chinese culture. Based on our research, we picked crimson red, which is the colour of the boundary walls of the Forbidden City, and imperial yellow, which was a colour reserved only for the Qing emperor and empress.'

They also took inspiration from the architecture and motifs found during that time.

Mr Yeo, who has 15 years' experience in exhibition design, says: 'The result is a contemporary take on the historical Forbidden City. It retains the essence of its grandeur and is in keeping with the museum's design aesthetic.'

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This article was first published in The Straits Times