430-Square-Foot Apartment With Paper Doors Features ‘Natural Shower’
- Posted on June 23, 2012 at 2:19pm by
Liz Klimas
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Modern architects have become masters at making smaller spaces feel more spacious. This usually comes in the form of eliminating walls and combining rooms, like the living room and dining room with an open kitchen. Walk into any 2000 or newer apartment building and you’re bound to see this.
Some people want walls, but with the flexibility of an open design. Rui Miguel is one of these people. The solution? Paper doors.
Fair Companies — also known as one of the tiny house documentary producers – features the 430-square-foot apartment that draws inspiration from Japanese design with “paper sliding doors.” What the designer also calls, the “soft closet.”
Miguel Angel with Miel Architects says spaces like this are designed to “work like an onion.“ The most ”insulated” or private area — in this case the bathroom — is in the centermost area. Each space working outward from there, Angel explains, is “more and more social.” Here are the four options of how the space can be used with the doors:
- The bathroom can be closed off from the living area, creating an open bathroom/bedroom unit.
- When a guest wants to use the bathroom it can be closed off to both the bedroom and the living area.
- The bathroom can be closed off leaving the bedroom open to the living quarters.
- Or all the doors can be left open, creating one large space.
Click through this slideshow for photos of the space:
Interestingly, to bring the outside in, Angel created a garden box with plants that grew downward into the shower from the roof. Fair Companies explains this design further:
From above the hole appears to be a simple planter on their roof deck with the ivy plants disguising the depth of the descent (though the wood of the planter is the same wood of the shower).
From inside, the hole turns an otherwise windowless bathroom into a magical place. During a storm, Sonia and Rui now shower in the rain. During summer, the air is cooling and in winter, even with the glass closed, the sunlight and plants create a tropical feel.
You may even be wondering how the plants fair. Pretty well. Miguel explains he cuts the ivy down every week because it grows too much. The actual walls of the shower is made of clear and frosted glass, which Miguel says “adds a little spicy to our lives.”
Bringing a cohesive feel to the small space, a large cabinet of sorts was built along one wall that serves as several rooms — although you might not notice it. The black woodwork at one point in the apartment is the kitchen, hiding the fridge, freezer and even a wine chiller. At the other end of the home it is the clothing wardrobe. Hidden in the middle is a small half bath.
Watch the Fair Companies tour of the space:
As Miguel puts it, he and his girlfriend have “the same as everybody but hidden.”
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Comments (61)
JustJason
Posted on June 23, 2012 at 8:25pmTotal lack of American creativity. This is like listening to a child describe his fort he made in his bedroom with blankets pinched in dressers. We take for granted our ingenuity.
Report Post »Artiewhitefox
Posted on June 24, 2012 at 7:31pmTake it easy on him. it is the way he talks. The use of space is very well thought out. I have never tried an open shower. It would be a new experience.
Report Post »mnkysmm
Posted on June 23, 2012 at 7:45pmI am so disappointed in such nasty remarks…this is a great space, considering it is just over 400 sq. ft. Ingenious use of space and materials. Did you not watch the walk through? The shower thing is so unique. Had you bothered to watch, you would have clearly seen the shower on the inside as well. The outdoor option is just that….an option. There is nothing wrong with downsizing, (or, as Glenn has encouraged before, to ‘live within your means’) and when you do, hopefully it will be with such
a well thought out and beautiful plan as this place has.
RestoringLove2012
Report Post »FedUpAlready
Posted on June 24, 2012 at 1:11amUnfortunately, this won’t be a choice under UN Agenda 21. You’ll be required to live in these Stakem and Packem houses, because all Private property rights will be abolished! Sorry, I like my Deck, Pool, Hot tub and big back yard!
Report Post »jespasinthru
Posted on June 23, 2012 at 5:59pmI don’t care what the architects and social engineers think. Claustrophobia sucks, and most Americans won’t put up with it. Do they think people will adopt a “zero child policy” just for the privilege of living in a coffin? I don’t think so.
Report Post »rickc34
Posted on June 23, 2012 at 6:39pmJust think how much faster it will burn or how easy to walk through a wall.
Report Post »thegreatcarnac
Posted on June 23, 2012 at 5:55pmWhat is so great about it? It is like living in a paper chicken coop.
Report Post »sheria-never
Posted on June 23, 2012 at 5:38pmThis may be the solution to the Muslim problem. . Should be a requirement for every Muslim immigrant …………..Not enough room to lay down a prayer rug……………………
Report Post »mcjj
Posted on June 23, 2012 at 5:33pmSo… am I understanding this right? They can only shower when it rains?
Report Post »rcw_68
Posted on June 24, 2012 at 11:06pmYep…And as they say…it’s all fun and games until………lightning strikes!
Report Post »Southernsoul
Posted on June 23, 2012 at 5:22pmI have seen showers with plants growing in them before, except we called it mold.
Report Post »T-2
Posted on June 23, 2012 at 5:39pmthey can keep all that. I like grass in my yard and waste enough room for a small village.
Report Post »powedj
Posted on June 23, 2012 at 5:05pmCan’t wait for Agenda 21 so I can live in a shoe box.
Report Post »lukerw
Posted on June 23, 2012 at 5:14pmUrn?
Report Post »txmike
Posted on June 23, 2012 at 4:28pmI like the idea of micro homes, it’s a good investment. I could build one for $25,000 (we live in Texas) and rent it out for $500 a month. Its pays for itself in a little over 4 years. They would not be a good place to try to raise a family but if your single it would be ideal.
Report Post »mils
Posted on June 23, 2012 at 5:00pm‘don’t want to live like this…nice apt for someone else..nothing ingenious..but nice…
Report Post »lukerw
Posted on June 23, 2012 at 5:16pmOur dreams… seem to be shrinking!
Report Post »txmike
Posted on June 23, 2012 at 7:06pmalong with the economy
Report Post »ronin_6
Posted on June 23, 2012 at 4:25pmLived in Japan for 5 years. 1st apt was so small when I sat on the toilet I couldn’t close the door. When I took a bath my knees got stuck under the sink.
Report Post »I moved to a really crummy part of town and got a really old apt that had two rooms a seperate kitchen and a large shower/bath seperate from the toilet. I didn’t care. At least I had some elbow room.
ForMyKidsVA
Posted on June 23, 2012 at 4:11pmMy husband and I worked our rear ends off so we wouldn’t have to live like that.
Report Post »oldsoldier10
Posted on June 23, 2012 at 9:56pmget some staples and a hot glue gun and get them rear’s reattached!
Report Post »inferno
Posted on June 23, 2012 at 4:11pmBut is it possible to wall off the odors and sounds if your bathroom is in the middle of the living area ?
Report Post »I suppose the bathroom would make an interesting converstaion subject for guests after they returned home. No doubt there would be questions like”‘honey could you hear smell anything when I made my after dinner visit ? “
IMCHRISTIAN
Posted on June 23, 2012 at 3:53pmIf this is what the world is coming to after many generations of changes and improvements then we have come to a new low. However, if this is what you would call equal opportunity in the future then the dog will have as good home as we do.
Report Post »crackerone
Posted on June 23, 2012 at 3:39pmHave all your friends and serve Mexican. It would be great for after dinner laughs.
Report Post »white_ostracism
Posted on June 23, 2012 at 3:56pmWho the hell wants to live like that?
America, the greatest place on Planet Earth…
Report Post »Tigress1
Posted on June 23, 2012 at 3:34pmGee! A giant RV!
Report Post »Actually it is pretty creative, and if you have to live in cramped quarters, that’s the way to go; but why do people WANT to live in cities that have such a high cost of living that you have to live in a hamster Habitrail?
Tri-ox
Posted on June 23, 2012 at 3:29pmUh, who wants to live in a cardboard box?
Report Post »BoyScout_Mom
Posted on June 23, 2012 at 3:13pmGee, it looks so “Fair.”
Report Post »H4dbmn
Posted on June 23, 2012 at 2:56pmWhat a mess! Not for someone with Alzheimer’s, LOL!
Report Post »Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
Posted on June 23, 2012 at 2:51pmI guess we are seeing the future American Dacha’s that Obama will cram us into.
Report Post »lukerw
Posted on June 23, 2012 at 5:12pmEssence & Function… orientalism!
Report Post »Gonzo
Posted on June 23, 2012 at 2:47pmoooh, it looks so eco friendly, does it have an outlet to charge my stinking electric car?
Report Post »Baddoggy
Posted on June 23, 2012 at 2:53pmYou have just enough room to run around with a propeller on your head to charge your iPhone.
Report Post »Taquoshi
Posted on June 23, 2012 at 2:43pmSo what happens if it’s not raining?
Report Post »lukerw
Posted on June 23, 2012 at 2:40pmIs… Less is More… Zen? Ah, so… Bonsai (not Banzai)!
Report Post »blaaaaackwoman
Posted on June 23, 2012 at 2:34pmCan you strip off a piece of the paper wall to wipe your butt? Sweet!
Report Post »blackyb
Posted on June 23, 2012 at 2:32pmWhy so small?
Report Post »kejmack
Posted on June 23, 2012 at 2:31pmThis fits right in with Agenda 21. Squeeze people together in cities.
Report Post »lukerw
Posted on June 23, 2012 at 2:58pmNext… select your Cemetery Plot… by Level… not Location!
Report Post »loriann12
Posted on June 23, 2012 at 3:08pmThat would be “urban centers.” And you notice how none of them have room for a family, unless you only have 1 child….makes one wonder if they won’t be intituting a 1 child policy for us?
Report Post »MetalPatriot
Posted on June 23, 2012 at 11:17pmYes to all.
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