Small Hong Kong Apartment Uses Low-Tech Ideas to Maximize Space

Hong Kong's dense urban fabric is well-known for accommodating tiny living quarters -- some of it super high-tech, some of it not so much. In between though, there's a middle way, and Hong Kong-based design studio Design Eight Five Two's recent renovation of a 548-square-foot apartment for a photographer uses some low-tech but sound ideas for maximizing space, like sliding walls and transforming furniture that can do multiple duties.

© Design Eight Five Two

Seen over at Dezeen, Flat 27A is located in the city's Kowloon Bay area. The apartment, which used to have two bedrooms and a cramped living room, was reworked so that the sleeping spaces and the living room were merged. To do this, sliding partitions were incorporated to divide up the limited space into rooms or opened up to form one larger area.

© Design Eight Five Two

Storage is hidden everywhere, and visual clutter kept to a minimum with sliding walls, as the homeowner is a big collector of books and mementos from travelling.

© Design Eight Five Two

© Design Eight Five Two

© Design Eight Five Two

© Design Eight Five Two

Mobile pieces of furniture were also put in, to allow flexibility of use in the space: a extendable dining table for ten that can be rolled in when family visits, for example. When that table is moved out of the way, one can access more storage shelving that rolls out of the wall, but is usually hidden out of sight.

© Design Eight Five Two

© Design Eight Five Two

To accommodate the client's cat, a cut-out nook has been added in one of the cubbies, in addition to a "cat toilet" that has been conveniently installed under the bathroom sink.

© Design Eight Five Two

With a few adjustments, the architects have created a greater sense of "simplicity, ease, and efficiency" in the client's life, without having to start from scratch and instead working with what's existing already -- a good idea when considering a 'greener' design. More over at Design Eight Five Two.