Micro-Housing: Rethinking Urban Living

[fattony]

What ever happened to the good ol' fashioned murphy bed. I've only seen a few microunits that included the original space-saver extraordinaire. Sleeping and entertaining are generally mutually exclusive (with the exception of entertaining one person you aren't going to mind squeezing close to) so the murphy in the livingroom is a no-brainer. I've seen really nice ones that incorporate bookshelves on the sides and display art or photographs in the upright position.

Also closet space is a repeat failure in microunit design. Heck, I was just in Baltimore this weekend visiting a friend in her new construction 1100+ sq. ft. apartment and closet space was pretty slack. In a house with a garage or basement closets are less important, but apartments notoriously come up short. Microunits laughably so. It's like the people designing these things have never actually lived in an apartment.

 

[datadyne007]

Also closet space is a repeat failure in microunit design. Heck, I was just in Baltimore this weekend visiting a friend in her new construction 1100+ sq. ft. apartment and closet space was pretty slack. In a house with a garage or basement closets are less important, but apartments notoriously come up short. Microunits laughably so. It's like the people designing these things have never actually lived in an apartment.

The design I posted has more closet space than my (very common) pre-war apartment. The idea with apartment/micro-unit living is that furniture will be modular and incorporate storage.

 

[cden4]

I do think it's funny that people are basically trying to reinvent small apartments. My first apt in Allston was 320 square feet. It had a decent sized closet, full sized appliances (fridge, stove/oven), and I was able to fit a twin bed, small pull-out couch, desk, dresser, and a two seater dining table. It was a perfectly manageable amount of space for one person, and having people over worked out just fine.

 

[BostonUrbEx]

This was just posted on Architecture Daily.

An absolutely beautiful solution for micro-living. It has a full bath and full kitchen. This is allegedly 270 square feet (25 sq m).

Ahh, for the right price (or perhaps just the right view out my window) I'd take this! Full kitchen and bath while still having a bed? That's not too micro for me!

EDIT: Wait- what about laundry. If there's not a free laundry facility on every floor, I'm out. [/deal breaker]

 

[datadyne007]

EDIT: Wait- what about laundry. If there's not a free laundry facility on every floor, I'm out. [/deal breaker]

Erm, then living in Boston in general is not for you. Laundry's mostly in the basement and costs $2 wash, $2 dry.

 

[novitiate]

Erm, then living in Boston in general is not for you. Laundry's mostly in the basement and costs $2 wash, $2 dry.

I have to walk down the street, and pay like twice that much on top of that... where are you living for such a deal?!

Also, I would totally live in that 270 sq. ft. unit... but I wouldn't be thrilled about dorm-like scenarios where I'd have to share a bathroom or kitchen.

 

[BostonUrbEx]

Erm, then living in Boston in general is not for you. Laundry's mostly in the basement and costs $2 wash, $2 dry.

Yeah, laundry bugs me too much. I don't have a terribly big selection of clothes, and would never wear anything twice without washing it, so that's a problem to me.

 

[datadyne007]

I have to walk down the street, and pay like twice that much on top of that... where are you living for such a deal?!

Also, I would totally live in that 270 sq. ft. unit... but I wouldn't be thrilled about dorm-like scenarios where I'd have to share a bathroom or kitchen.

Worthington St at Huntington Ave. Pre-war bldg. I have 12 sq ft of closet space (6 and 6) and no kitchen cabinets at all. ANYTHING is an upgrade haha.

I know what you're saying about laundry though. In Berlin, it was €5,50 in total.

 

[JohnAKeith]

I have clients who would pay $2,500 for that. Sry.