HOUSE OF THE WEEK

An abundance of space at FMI City

CERTAINLY, space is not a problem in this house – once you get there. Over the Hlaing River, 45 minutes from downtown, there is a large one-storey house in a big compound waiting for someone ready to trade time for space. ...more

Yangon Weather Forecast, Burma

D-net gaming suite dares gamers to enter house of pain

THE straight blacktop road leads nowhere, the white lines down the centre disappearing into the gloom beyond the bright overhead lights that angle downwards towards you on V-shaped brackets. The road is narrow. There are white walls on either side, and across them, heading up, down and sideways, snaking black cables give the impression that you are inside some giant machine. Against one wall, the armed Terminator glowers at you, glowing in neon green.

Each side of the road, two rows of yellow chairs stand back to back, each in its own booth, 21 in all.

You are in D-net, an internet café on the ground floor of a three-story building on Bayintnaung Road in Yangon’s Hlaing township.

D-net, a haven for users of the internet, network games and Pfingo, was designed by U Maung Maung Zay Lin and Zealmen Decoration Group, who transformed the 1000-square-foot space within a month to create this claustrophobic effect.

“This is the smallest creation of all the designs I have made. I thought the effect would reflect what the shop was all about,” he said.

“We tried to reduce costs to a minimum while producing the best design. The pipes look like iron, but are actually plastic, and the other materials are also cheap,” he said, adding that the total cost came to about K10 million.

D-net owner Ko Ye Thura said he was very satisfied with the design.

“Most of our customers are young. I told Ko Zay Lin I wanted a fresh design for my shop. Now that I’ve seen the results, I like it.”

D-net opens early next month.