8 Rooms in 420 square feet

[LongTomH]

Great article from Gizmodo on the new apartment designed by Graham Hill, founder of Treehugger.com. Hill has designed a tiny apartment, very appropriate for New York or most crowded urban areas, that has a small physical and environmental footprint.

When you walk in, you encounter what is, at first glance, a small studio apartment. Within that cube are actually 8 functional spaces. The living room and office become the bedroom with a tug of a bookshelf. Open one of the closets and you'll find 10 stackable chairs that go around a telescopic dining table for large dinner parties. An entire guest room with bunk-beds and a closet is revealed behind a wall that slides out on tracks. And of course, a well-equipped kitchen and bathroom await.

There's a gallery of various rooms and features, as well as a video where Hill himself takes you on a tour of his tiny, but very liveable pad.

Could this be the future as more and more of us become urban? If so, it looks very comfortable.

[cbayer]

1. That's about what we have, including outdoor spaces.

Total *rooms* - 7. Cockpit, 2 cabins, office space, galley (kitchen), living/dining area, head (bathroom). And every inch of space that can be used for something is.

Plus extra added attractions! Ability to move with about 20 minutes notice, everything able to be stowed in such a way that it will remain in place in seriously rough conditions and stunning views.

I think we could easily replicate it on land and be happy in such a small space.

[TxRider]

4. I can't be happy in that small a space

I moved to my property and lived 6 months in a 300sq ft cabin including kitchen and such and without a toilet, it was so very nice to move back up to a real house. I'm 6'4" and the small space was just too much.

But that said anything over about 1000sq feet I do not need or really use.

[cbayer]

5. Less space, less stuff, is what I have found. And that works for me.

But everybody has to find their own solution.

[Starboard Tack]

2. Excellent post, thank for sharing.

[intheflow]

3. I like some of these ideas a great bit.

Love the idea of the murphy bed with the shelf you don't have to empty, but would use that for a guest situation only as I really don't want to pack/unpack my bed every night. Same with packing/unpacking my stove. LOVED the table that went from 0 to seating-for-8 in 2 minutes, that was awesome! Thanks for posting.

[Curmudgeoness]

6. There is something to be said for this in expensive

and crowded areas, and I could live with it if I had to....but I wouldn't like it. I just hate modern design, it is so cold and sterile to me, so I would go crazy there. It doesn't feel cozy. But it is liveable and it is functional. I lived with a Murphy bed once, and hated that it was so much work to go to bed...but I did think it was the coolest idea I had ever seen when I first saw it.

But this is really ingenious.

[ConcernedCanuk]

7. Considering building in the very near future

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Want a fair bit of property, 10 acres or more, and may have to build from scratch

Sure makes a lot of sense,

me be thinking about heating costs in what we affectionately call the "Near North" around North Bay Ontario area

40 below?

I's about as far North as I wanna go