Tiny Apartment designs - would you live in these??

[Reasonable Doubt]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zO-E6CTa3Mo

Mayor Michael Bloomberg proposed a challenge to the city's best architects: to design a space no bigger than 350 square feet into a comfortable and affordable micro-apartment.

looks like a design for college dorms rather than NYC apartments that will most likely rent for 1500 a month.

 

[DesiPower]

They can hire people from Tokyo, no need to reinvent the wheel

 

[lxskllr]

I like the tiny houses better. I /could/ live in that, but I wonder what neighbor noise is like. You'd have 5x as many people in the same space.

 

[someone16]

Why not? 350 square feet is plenty for 1 person/couple. People in other big cities live in even smaller apartments.

 

[ctbaars]

Two days later
https://www.flickr.com/photos/pyrogenic/330342304/

 

[Drako]

Brought to you by IKEA. :biggrin:

 

[K1052]

I would drown an old woman in her bathtub to rent one of those in SF for $1500.

 

[ThinClient]

That is AWESOME!!!! Would so live in one of these.

 

[TwiceOver]

DIdn't look all that "Small" to me. More of a design concept for various furniture. I'm sure an apartment of that size in NYC is what, 40k a year?

 

[Carson Dyle]

Where would you put the table saw and the router table? Not to mention camping gear, fishing gear and gun safe? Maybe you're supposed to live in a 350 square foot space and rent a 600 square foot storage unit.

I just don't understand what kind of lives these people have. Their only hobbies must be jogging and going to art gallery openings. Every night must be "Where do you want to go tonight? We sure as **** can't sit around this cracker box all evening."

 

[BurnItDwn]

No, there is not enough room to move around. I want proper dedicated theater room, Current theater room is about 300 or so sq feet, but I would be OK with a 150 or so sq foot theater room just with only 1 row of seating rather than 2 rows + bar in the back. Also I like having separate dedicated home office space. Also, I would want at least a big enough space for a kitchen table that can seat 6 people tight or 4 people comfortably, with extra space in living room for an additional 6 people if needed so that I can host a family get together. In addition, I wouldn't want to live some place without a semi decent back yard and a nice deck. This tiny apartment looks like how I would imagine hell. I am perfectly happy in a 1970s construction 970 sq foot prefab home on .15 acre lot, but apartments, I HATE living in them.

 

[K1052]

Where would you put the table saw and the router table? Not to mention camping gear, fishing gear and gun safe? Maybe you're supposed to live in a 350 square foot space and rent a 600 square foot storage unit.

I just don't understand what kind of lives these people have. Their only hobbies must be jogging and going to art gallery openings. Every night must be "Where do you want to go tonight? We sure as **** can't sit around this cracker box all evening."

Micro-units are specifically geared to youngish urban people in places with high land/development costs.

 

[Mai72]

Yes! I would rather live in an apartment like this then live in a studio apartment. It's clean and looks comfortable. It even has a kitchen. When I was in Thailand my studio didn't have a kitchen. We were cleaning our dishes in the shower.

 

[DrPizza]

Where would you put the table saw and the router table? Not to mention camping gear, fishing gear and gun safe? Maybe you're supposed to live in a 350 square foot space and rent a 600 square foot storage unit.

I just don't understand what kind of lives these people have. Their only hobbies must be jogging and going to art gallery openings. Every night must be "Where do you want to go tonight? We sure as **** can't sit around this cracker box all evening."

Pretty much this. My storage space for my stuff is bigger than 350 square feet. As far as "youngish urban people," well, sucks to be them. "I'm going to live like a warehoused human whose sole purpose is to work and maybe someday have a life and 500 square feet to call my own."

 

[Red Squirrel]

If I was stuck living down south in a high density urban area where living costs are ridiculously expensive and getting a real house is near impossible, I'd consider it but I'd rather not even be in such a position to begin with. Those places are fun to visit but I would not want to live there. I would rather own the space I live in as well. If I had to pick between a regular size apartment or tiny house that I own, I'd pick the tiny house.

I like having my current 1100sqft house all to myself though. In fact I'd love to have a bigger property and a big garage/workshop. Perhaps even a solar/wind array and separate building for the batteries. If ever I win the lotto I'll probably buy a decent sized parcel of land somewhere and do just that.

 

[MustISO]

I could maybe live in 1200 SQ/FT, no way I could do 350.

 

[Chaotic42]

Sure, if I had to live in the city and if the walls were well enough insulated.

I'd prefer to live way out in the country, but jobs are hard to come by out there.

 

[BoberFett]

DIdn't look all that "Small" to me. More of a design concept for various furniture. I'm sure an apartment of that size in NYC is what, 40k a year?

Yeah, that had very little to do with apartment design and more to do with furniture.

That woman was hot though, so I watched the whole thing.

Single people can live in a very small space. Add a spouse and especially kids, and these small living spaces become a silly idea.

 

[mmntech]

I can get a condo twice that big in the burbs for less money than it costs to rent one of those. I suppose if you live in the downtown and only go home to sleep, it could work. I'd do my nut living in something so small though.

 

[destrekor]

Pretty much this. My storage space for my stuff is bigger than 350 square feet. As far as "youngish urban people," well, sucks to be them. "I'm going to live like a warehoused human whose sole purpose is to work and maybe someday have a life and 500 square feet to call my own."

AKA being young in NYC.

If you are starting your career ladder there, that's essentially what you get - or roommates and essentially that amount of personal square footage, if you are lucky.

The lifestyle might be neat in a city like NYC, but I don't think I could handle the living situation.

 

[destrekor]

I can get a condo twice that big in the burbs for less money than it costs to rent one of those. I suppose if you live in the downtown and only go home to sleep, it could work. I'd do my nut living in something so small though.

This isn't for any downtown area, this is more specifically for mega-urban areas, the kind where it takes at least an hour--if not two hours--of commuting to travel from still-expensive burb to inner Manhattan.

Most big cities you can do 30-45 minutes of travel from nearby burb to job in the inner districts.
It would still take 30 minutes to get from some micro unit in NYC to your job in another part of NYC, if you are lucky. You trade away a lot of the awesomeness of freedom to do what you want, when you want, by choosing the NYC way of life, I reckon.

 

[purbeast0]

nah couldn't do it now a days. maybe when i was younger i could. lived in a 780sqft condo with my wife for like 6 years and it started to get too small for us. now we're in our first house that is more than 3x that size and just not a chance i could go back to the small living lifestyle.

 

[Mai72]

AKA being young in NYC.

If you are starting your career ladder there, that's essentially what you get - or roommates and essentially that amount of personal square footage, if you are lucky.

The lifestyle might be neat in a city like NYC, but I don't think I could handle the living situation.

You live outside of NYC which is what people do. You don't get the whole NYC vibe 24/7 but it's a lot cheaper. The one downside is you'll need a car.

 

[Mai72]

nah couldn't do it now a days. maybe when i was younger i could. lived in a 780sqft condo with my wife for like 6 years and it started to get too small for us. now we're in our first house that is more than 3x that size and just not a chance i could go back to the small living lifestyle.

When I was living in South Korea I'd meet families who were living in small studio apartments. I'm talking 4 and more people living in a very small area.

If they can do it I would like to think we could as well.

 

[Matthiasa]

Hmm 100sqft smaller then my current studio, but actually designed to use space properly. Note that there is not enough space for clothing in that closet though.