Domestic Transformer: 24 Rooms Packed Into One
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto 
on 01.15.09
all photos: Marcel Lam for The New York Times
Apartments are small and expensive in Hong Kong, so architect Gary Chang designed his 344 square foot unit to change into 24 different designs, just by sliding walls and panels around. He even calls it a "Domestic Transformer."
Virginia Gardiner writes in the New York Times about how small Hong Kong apartments are, and how it leads to social pressures:
“It’s a big problem,” Mr. Chang said. “Killing each other is not uncommon.”“People feel trapped,” he said. “We have to find ways to live together in very small spaces.”
In Mr. Chang’s solution, a kind of human-size briefcase, everything can be folded away so that the space feels expansive, like a yoga studio.
The wall units, which are suspended from steel tracks bolted into the ceiling, seem to float an inch above the reflective black granite floor. As they are shifted around, the apartment becomes all manner of spaces — kitchen, library, laundry room, dressing room, a lounge with a hammock, an enclosed dining area and a wet bar.
More in the New York Times
More Transformers in TreeHugger:
Transformer Furniture: 7 Objects That Aren't What They Seem
Less is More: Murphy Bed/Desk/Closet All in One
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