For our latest lookbook, we’ve rounded up eight micro-apartments and micro-homes that use clever solutions to best fit into one room, which often functions as both a living room and a bedroom.
A ‘sleeping cocoon’ and built-in space-saving furniture are among the solutions used to create comfortable living and sleeping spaces in these projects.
The interiors, which range from a house in Taipei to a small apartment in Beirut, feature a number of innovative designs that allow the owners and tenants to stretch out – even in spaces as small as 15 square meters.
This is the latest in our lookbooks series, offering visual inspiration from Dezeen’s archive. For more inspiration, see previous lookbooks with minimalist kitchens and homes with pyramid-shaped ceilings.
Ferguson, Scotland, by Lee Ivett, Simon Harlow and Duncan Blackmore
Color adorns the walls in this 250-square-foot Glasgow apartment, which contains no free-standing furniture. Instead, a permanent sofa and a shelf that functions as a desk create a living room and work space.
The bed is located on a mezzanine floor above a compact shower room and accessed via a wooden staircase. Custom-made sinks ensure that white goods do not take up too much space in the flat, which the owner uses as a temporary base in the city.
Learn more about Ferguson ›
Corten steel micro home, Lithuania, from IM Interior
This micro home in a former garage in Lithuania shows “how little a person needs,” says designer Indrė Mylytė-Sinkevičienė, founder of IM Interior.
The house is 21 square meters in size and has a warm birch wood cladding. The bed is placed like a window seat under one of the two narrow windows and surrounded by hidden storage space. A sleek, built-in shelf functions as both a desk and a dining table.
Read more about the Corten steel house ›
Micro flat, Taiwan, from A Little Design
Local studio A Little Design used built-in, space-saving furniture for this Taipei apartment, which measures just 17.6 square meters.
Built-in cupboards provide storage space next to a staircase leading to a mezzanine floor, while a folding table can be used as a desk or dining space.
Read more about the microflat ›
Microloft, Melbourne, by Studio Edwards
Particleboard was used for much of the furniture in this 250-square-foot Melbourne apartment, including storage, a sofa and a bed.
The designers also customized IKEA furniture for the home, wrapping a bedside table in recycled aluminum to aid acoustics and using aluminum legs to extend the same stool to create seating for dining.
More information about Microloft ›
Shoji Apartment, UK, by Proctor & Shaw
A translucent ‘sleeping cocoon’ wrapped in panels referencing Japanese shoji screens gave this flat its name. Designed by London studio Proctor & Shaw, it measures 29 square meters and has a design that takes advantage of the high ceilings.
“This apartment renovation project is conceived as a prototype for micro-living in an existing housing stock with limited floor areas but traditionally generous ceiling heights,” the studio explains.
More information about Shoji Apartment ›
Shoebox, Lebanon, by Eliemetni
Located on the roof of an old building, this compact Beirut apartment has only 15 square meters of floor space, but manages to fit everything into one room.
The floor was covered in white epoxy to maximize light in the small space, which has plenty of storage under the bed and under the seating in the custom space-saving furniture. Matching white walls give an airy atmosphere to the room.
More information about Shoebox ›
Love2 House, Japan, by Takeshi Hosaka
This micro home in Tokyo, measuring 19 square meters, gets a lot of natural light thanks to the two large skylights.
Architect Takeshi Hosaka built it for himself and his wife, designing the compact house with seven partitions that extend from the reinforced concrete walls to define the dining, kitchen and sleeping zones.
A large sliding door opens the house to the street, creating extra space in the warm months.
More information about Love2 House ›
Domestico, Ecuador, by Juan Alberto Andrade and María José Váscones
Located in the Qorner Building in Quito, Ecuador, this micro-apartment measures 27.5 square meters and features a floor-to-ceiling unit that the designers describe as a “habitable artifact.”
There is storage space, but also a bed and a desk, both of which are foldable. Through a door in the corner you enter the bathroom with sink, shower and toilet.
More information about Domestico ›
This is the latest in our lookbooks series, offering visual inspiration from Dezeen’s archive. For more inspiration, see previous lookbooks with minimalist kitchens and homes with pyramid-shaped ceilings.