Shoji Apartment

Space standards are used as a clumsy proxy for ‘quality of design’. In the UK policy dictates that an ‘acceptable’ single person studio flat should be 37m2. Global variations occurr across many developed countries:

• New York and – no minimum
• Hong Kong – no minimum
• Netherlands – 24 m2
• France – 14 m2
• Taiwan – 13 m2
• Australia – 30 m2

Whilst the number of people living in one and two person households increases, general trends of urbanised population growth and ageing continue, inevitably the pressure to find desirable property in cities continues to rise. This impacts the balance of affordability vs size. How can we deliver new housing typologies that might re-balance the deepening UK housing crisis?

Good design can offer more with less. Building smaller can increase affordability, reduce material resource and promote innovation. Emerging technologies and changing social patterns are facilitating compact living. The rise of the sharing economy promotes efficiencies that

reduce our demands for private physical space. A greater commitment to environmental sustainability is increasing the scrutiny of our lifestyle ‘footprint’.

By designing ‘compact’, a greater attention is also directed towards material qualities. These tactile and emotive spatial opportunities are explored in the design of the Shoji Apartment, all with in a 29m2 footprint.

The project is distinctive and unique, and we are by no means suggesting that this is a new typology or housing solution. However perhaps the project might add to the ongoing debate about how quality of space might be ‘measured’, and what that could mean for future city living.

A study in materiality, transparency and enclosure. This apartment renovation project is conceived as a prototype for micro-living in existing housing stock with constrained floor areas but traditionally generous ceiling heights.

Poky and uncomfortable cellular rooms are replaced by a generous multi functional living space arranged around a translucent sleeping ‘pod’ inspired by Japanese Shoji screens.

By cleverly stacking accommodation in a single height volume, additional floor area is conjured to provide a real sense of luxury and design quality in just 29 square metres.

The client approached us with a desire to transform a cramped first floor one bedroom flat into an open plan arrangement filled with light and warmth. Often overlooked in single room accommodation, maximising useful storage was also a key part of the client brief.

Studio accommodation dictates that space must be multi functional. We explored how these different functional requirements might be reflected in a flexible architecture. Requirements for privacy, enclosure and socialbilty were thoughtfully considered whilst analysing potential layouts.

We were taken with the underexploited 3.4 metre ceiling heights in the property and developed a strategy for stacking accommodation vertically in order to maximise the generosity of the plan. A king size bed is raised on a plinth, accessed via a space saving plywood staircase, and arranged above a newly created walk-in wardrobe.

Sleeping and storage is veiled behind a transluscent screen of carefully framed polycarbonate. The screen can open and close to create privacy whilst sharing intimate framed views to the living areas and beyond to trees on the street.

The resulting furniture object creates a ‘sleeping cocoon’ that animates the living space through different configurations, playfully exploring transparency, enclosure, and illumination whilst also providing an intimate and sensual retreat within.

A walk-in shower room, seamlessly finished in micro cement to floor, walls and ceiling, is re-fitted into an awkward corner of the plan. A structural ceiling built above it provides new loft storage for the property and a hub for all services.

The kitchen is carefully planned with integrated appliances including bins, fridge freezer, dishwasher, and washer-drying machines, and finished in natural birch plywood fronts. Generous storage is also provided with wall to wall above counter cabinets.

Acoustic insulation and boarding are added to floor and ceiling, and windows upgraded throughout, to better insulate the apartment from the noise and cold. This also allowed ceiling recessed lighting coves to be integrated to conceal blinds and indirect lighting sources in order to calm the space and provide flexibility in use. A feature pendant and cabling travels up walls and across the ceiling to further animate the space above the dining area.

Walls and ceiling are finished in soft clay plaster to create a unifying sense of subtle warmth to the space. Natural birch plywood was selected for kitchen and joinery elements, panelled from floor to ceiling to accentuate the height of the space. Both provide balance to the more clinical industrial finishes of the polycarbonate screens with polyester powder coated aluminium framing that structures the sleeping pod. A linoleum acoustic floor is practical for spills, soft underfoot and ties into the natural palette of finishes.

Executive Summary

We see this project as being relevant to housing issues affecting city centres today. Period properties are typically underexploited when converted to smaller unit accommodation, showing little or no imagination in how constraints might be turned into opportunities. They may meet spacial proxies but often fall short of architectural delight.

This project shows that design quality need not be compromised when addressing the issues of limited space and poorly performing existing fabric. By exploiting the vertical dimensions of the existing condition, space is somewhat conjured out of nothing.

The innovative sleeping pod creates an architectural insertion into the existing volume that creates delight through new vantage points and a sense of sanctuary, whilst solving issues of limited functional space and inadequate storage. The translucent and dynamic qualities of the pod and its surfaces maximise its benefits to the apartment. Open or closed, illuminated or opaque, its surface and volume are brought to life in use, acting at once as a lantern to the wider room, or a mezzanine with intimate views to the street.

Offering a walk-in wardrobe, a king size bed, a generous kitchen with fully integrated appliances, a six-seater dining table you can walk around, a 1.5m long walk-in shower, a living space with a magnificent 3 bay window, and a dedicated loft storage space, all in only 29 m2, a delightful apartment has been created.