Micro Living

By: Patrick Szczecina

            The Architect Gary Chang lives in downtown Hong Kong, in an  apartment that he designed that would be able to transform into 24 different rooms. The apartment is 32sqm (344sqft) which contains in view only walls, a couch, bookshelves and other shelving units.

            Chang has lived in this apartment since the age of 14 and once his parents moved out he started to modify the interior so that he can maximize the space. In 1976 the apartment had a kitchen near the entry, a bathroom, seating area, 2 bedrooms (master) and an office space, which all created a tight space with little movement. That was the layout in 1976, in 1987 he started to configure the space and by 2006 the apartment was able to be transformed to 24 different rooms. So how does it work (Link below shows a better explanation).

            The apartment came with 3 renovations, which all in overtime created the apartment it is today. The apartment uses moveable walls, which are suspended on steel tracks which are connected to the ceiling. The main areas that are tucked into the wall are the kitchen (slides out), bed, bathroom (doesn’t move instead it’s a space in the wall), closest (opens out), dining area (table that comes out of the wall). The rooms that can be created are ones such as a library, spa, laundry, game room, guest room. This shows that the need for large areas isn’t necessary instead it is a “Want”, while Mr. Chang shows that his apartment is able to create multiple different spaces that are used only when they are needed. This idea falls into my thesis in the idea that we are wasting space. We aren’t utilizing spaces very efficiently, in this aspect its how much time we spend in them. For instance a bedroom we use to sleep (6-10 hours daily), study for 2 hours and the rest its not used. Now the kitchen, this area is used in the morning 30min and for dinner 1-2 hours, and the rest of the day it isn’t used due to the fact people are at work or out of the house. The idea of having the rooms be used only when needed (Mr. Changs apartment) is a good idea, it saves on the space and the energy needed to cool / warm the apartment (or a house).

Shows a walkthrough of the structure - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0zZfpe2v1g

This shows 24 layouts - http://www.archdaily.com/59905/gary-chang-life-in-32-sqm