2012 YA apartment Studio

2012 YA Heights Studio type TOKYO

Brief 

 The site was a 40 year old apartment building consisting of 10 floors of 8 apartments. The apartments are all rental. The building has 3 apartment types. The initial brief was to design a new layout for one of these. The idea being that as tenants change the apartments would be renovated to the new layout. The 2.5mx6.5m space was to be studio type apartment that provides a comfortable living space with enough storage to attract tenants. This was to be done on a very limited budget. There are ceiling beams and pillars in this small space, so the layout of the apartment created a puzzle that needed to be solved. Due to budget constraints, I selected Ikea kitchen units to create a small kitchenette and dining / desk /TV area along the side of the room so that no furniture was required except for a bed.

My design has now been applied to more than 80 apartments; as a direct result the occupancy rate of these apartments has significantly increased.