Small footprint apartment

‘Type Street Apartment’ is a 1970’s walk-in apartment in Melbourne, Australia. It is a small 35 square meter one bedroom apartment recently renovated by Jack Chen for himself. The main question he asked himself during the renovation was, “How can we build a big house into a small unit?” He solved the problem with elegance and the result is a compact apartment that elegantly combines space for entertaining, a home office and a place of tranquility in an environment of subtle sophistication.

The apartment is visually divided into two zones, the service areas dominated by wooden surfaces and the white living areas. According to the architect, the key to planning small spaces is that two different functions can coexist in the same space at different times. This kind of functionality not only requires clever and elegant design solutions, but also depends on exquisite craftsmanship.

Two inventive solutions the team came up with are a retractable sliding board with an extendable dining table and a collapsible workstation, both of which easily disappear when not in use. Additional design touches, including mirrored cabinets and baseboards that make the living room appear larger, a retractable clothesline for maximum bathroom utilization, and concealed air conditioning in the bedroom, are further evidence of how Chen used the apartment’s small size as an opportunity to remodel to demonstrate that elegance and comfort are about good design.