Never Too Small

Tara was designed around large fluid spaces and compartmentalised, functional storage and furniture. White surfaces and metal cladding reflect and diffuse light inside the 30m2 space, allowing light to open up the bathroom and kitchen despite having few windows. Everything fits neatly together, all to make the best possible use of the apartments existing space.

Originally a 22m2 art deco apartment, Nanopad was redesigned to showcase its unique features and better take advantage of its shape. Floating and compartmentalised storage opened up previously closed in spaces, allowing the addition of a kitchen, and an extended battened bathroom. While still maintaining the art deco detailing inside.

Architect team Alex Nielsen and Liz Walsh repurposed and upgraded an existing 1970s bed-sit apartment into a sleek yet functional micro-home. With the wall and ceiling wrapped in plywood, insertion of two skylights and variation in ceiling height creating a unique vaulted volume.

OPod Tube House is an experimental, low cost, micro-living housing unit to ease Hong Kong’s affordable housing problems. Constructed out of low-cost and readily available 2.5m diameter concrete water pipe, the design ultilises the strong concrete structure to house a micro-living apartment for one/two people. OPod Tube Houses can be stacked to become a low rise building and a modular community in a short time, and can also be relocated to different sites in the city.

Treehouse offers a bespoke split-level design strategy with a touch of arboreal whimsy. A box-loft sleeping area is clad in natural pine and seems to float like a tree house with a strip of window glazing looking out at the forest. Architect Nelson Chow created a unique, playful sense of space that maximises its panoramic forested context within a decidedly compact, urban setting.

Architects and interior designers PMDL Architecture + Design renovated a 1960s five-storey walk-up building on one of Hong Kong Island’s busiest thoroughfares. The building consists of five apartments above retail at ground level. Each apartment, with an area of 25m2, is designed around a service wall which implies a subdivision of the apartment while not minimising the sense of space.

Architect Jean Graham from Winter Architecture together with the client and their carpenter designed a unique space designed for a family of four. The Compartment Apartment divides and arranges the 45m2 space to allow every family member a sense of privacy. Scandinavian-style interior fittings using re-purposed joinery for kitchen and new converted Ikea furniture expands the utility of the space and storage. While curtains separate rooms from each other but still allow light to pass through; maintaining a sense of what’s beyond.

Unique among 18 other 1960s walk-up apartments, Nicholas Gurney extensively reworked The Warren as a seamless space, drawing the eye deeper into the apartment. Removing the previous partitioning walls allowed all of the 49m2 space’s necessities to be framed within a joinery concealed kitchen, and an inventive mirror clad central pod. Creating a calm, airy space; both art studio and home.

Aptly named Boneca Apartment (doll’s house in Portuguese) by the client, designed by architect Brad Swartz – this 24 square metre Sydney apartment has a sense of luxury and refinement way beyond its size. Realigning the bathroom and kitchen created a long living and dining zone, and a screened sleeping alcove, both oriented to the view.

Dusky Parakeet is a one-bedroom modern houseboat designed by 31/44 Architects. It has been decorated with a calm, natural palette, perfectly suited to its watery surroundings. It is the sort of comfort and quality that you would expect from a high-end apartment. Finishes, door hinges, appliances, positioning of walls, storage, and lighting: every decision was made with both a need to be space-saving and practical, but also create a generous and calm contemporary home.

This off-grid cabin is an escape from the high stress of busy work life. The brief was to capture that and design a building as a piece of furniture with everything the client needs built-in. The only furniture allowed was a low table and mattress on the sleeping loft. The cabin opens onto an east and west deck, capturing morning and afternoon sun while affording views to the south. A high roof allowed solar panels and a skylight to catch sun from over the trees.

For this significant downsize, designer Nick Gurney worked closely with his clients to design a unique 38m2 small apartment in Sydney that favours accessibility, functionality and storage. A lengthy side by side hallway storage unit and kitchen joinery that extends to a 7m long credenza, expand the utility and storage of the space, whilst demarcated zones that can easily be transformed, ensure that each occupant has the opportunity for privacy and solitude.

In Sydney’s Pyrmont, two neighbours have come together to replace their car spaces with identical 35sqm footprint one-bedroom tiny homes. Loft House x2 by Architect Brad Swartz provides an innovative template for how neighbours can cooperate to unlock underutilised inner-city land.

UKO is Australia’s first co-living space in Stanmore, in the inner-west of Sydney, Australia. Architect Ashkan Mostaghim from Mostaghim and Associates presents the smallest of UKO’s footprints, a 19sqm micro apartment. Including a small bathroom and kitchen, a flexible layout is made possible by cleverly designed joinery that maximises floor space by ensuring essentials, including a dining table and sofa are able to be packed away under a queen bed when not required.

Nestled in the UNESCO Amsterdam Canal District World Heritage Site, this 15.8m2 micro-apartment was comprehensively transformed by Studio Piet Boon. Studio Piet Boon’s design approach creates a great sense of luxury by incorporating as many (hidden) functionalities as possible, and while historical features such as the original beam work have been preserved and featured, the use of rich materials throughout delivers a stylish Amsterdam base for their client.