With the price of housing on the rise, and the current human population set to steadily increase, city planners the world over have turned to micro-lofts to maximize living space.

Micro-lofts are 100 – 300 square foot residencies-like miniature studio apartments- with miniature kitchens and bathrooms. Let’s take a look at the past, present, and future of micro living.

Nakagin Capsule Tower, Japan

Finished in 1972, the Nakagin Capsule Tower in Japan presented a new type of avant garde architecture aimed at overcoming the problems of post-war Japanese urban planning. The resulting capsule units were just over 100 square feet and marketed to Japanese businessmen. Today-despite numerous plans to demolish the building-the capsule tower functions as a working apartment building and offers a striking example to modern micro-apartment designers.

Everett Micro-Lofts in Portland, Oregon

Originally built as a hotel in 1914, the Everett Micro-Lofts in downtown Portland, Oregon are 300 square foot studios that offer an affordable alternative to downtown renting. Aimed at people making $35,000 – $45,000 a year, the Everett Micro-Lofts maintain many of the original features of the 1914 building, right down to the nails used in the trim. Inhabitants say that the micro-lofts are small enough to keep clean with ease, yet also big enough to allow plenty of space for pets.

adAPT NYC Contest Designs New Apartments in New York

With 1.8 million one- and two-person households, and only one million studio apartments, the local government in New York City has called on designers to create a new kind of apartment that takes up as little space as possible. The winner of the adAPT NYC contest, as announced earlier this fall, is an apartment plan that features a storage loft, a bathroom and a 70 square foot kitchen, proving that micro-lofts are a progressive way to ease housing woes.

No comments found.