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Small Spaces – Micro Apartments posted on the 25th March 2015
As housing affordability continues to be an issue, Micro Apartments across the nation and the world become increasingly popular. Below is an interesting article from a great website – archictureanddesign.com.au
Life in Small Rooms : 5 Micro Apartments and How they Fit It All In
www.architectureanddesign.com.au
Geraldine Chua
4 March 2015
The micro apartment is no stranger to cities where space is a premium, such as Tokyo and Hong Kong, although the concept has really taken off in the last decade when downsizing became trendy. Yet, the creation of smaller and smaller units continues to divide opinions. Life in Small Rooms : 5 Micro Apartments and How they Fit It All In.
The micro apartment is no stranger to cities where space is a premium, such as Tokyo and Hong Kong, although the concept has really taken off in the last decade when downsizing became trendy. Yet, the creation of smaller and smaller units continues to divide opinions.
On one side of the ring, advocates like NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg believe micro units could open up more reasonably priced living options, with the New York Times reporting that more apartments dedicated to singles “could eventually bring down rent prices across the city, as more two- to four-bedroom apartments would then open up to families”.
The article pointed specifically to My Micro NY, a new prefab micro apartment by nARCHITECTS that will come with kitchenettes, wheelchair-accessible bathrooms, ceilings over nine feet high and big windows – all within the span of just 24 to 33sqm.
However, others believe that compact apartments could compromise amenity and living standards. An article by The Age in 2013 noted that studio flats as small as 15sqm on sale in Melbourne, each with a single small window and a kitchenette “the size of a broom cupboard”, would negatively impact residents’ quality of life.
“Often the bedrooms have no direct sunlight,” said RMIT planning professor, Michael Buxton. “Developers make money by such cramming but also by not providing car parking and other facilities. People who buy such small spaces don’t live in them.”
Although the median size of one bedroom apartments in Australia has decreased from 52sqm to 44sqm in the last five years, states like NSW continue to have a restriction of 50sqm being the minimum area of an apartment.
While Australians are not yet lining up to live in matchbox sized apartments – a two-storey house with a backyard and double garage is the dream after all – smaller units that focus on efficient floor plans and making spaces work harder are undeniably a part of the future of higher density living.
As Nigel Hobart, principal of ROTHELOWMAN, once said to The Financial Review, a well-designed 40sqm apartment can have a greater amenity than a poorly designed 60sqm apartment.
Here are five international examples of micro apartments…
Written by Sonia Woolley