A Tiny German Apartment Packed Full of Personality (and Books!)

published Jul 1, 2017
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(Image credit: Thomas Rusch for Dwell)

Forty square meters (or 430 square feet) is not a lot of space to work with, but the architects of this tiny German apartment managed to squeeze a lot of living—and a lot of personality—into a very small home. Another thing they managed to fit in? Room for lots and lots of books.

(Image credit: Thomas Rusch for Dwell)

The centerpiece of the apartment is the so-called “inhabitable wall”, a bookcase that stretches the length of one wall of the living room, and all the way to the ceiling. Concealed behind the bookcase is a very cozy sleeping space, accessible by a ladder. The space below serves as storage, and a fold-out desk is integrated into the wall. The palette of the living room is relatively conservative (with the exception of the bold red, light-hearted giant floor lamp), which keeps the book wall as the main focus, although a pop of pink in the loft adds just a bit of additional color.

(Image credit: Anne Menke via Dwell)
(Image credit: Anne Menke via Dwell)

On the opposite side of the apartment is the kitchen, which packs in a ton of character for a kitchen in an apartment this small. Above the cabinets are open shelves, backed by colorful tiles in a variety of patterns. You can also catch a glimpse, from the very top of the kitchen, of the bathroom.

(Image credit: Thomas Rusch for Dwell)

Bathrooms in apartments this small are usually quite utilitarian affairs, but this one is designed for luxury, with green marble tiles, exposed copper pipes, and a soaking tub. The bathroom, like the habitable wall, efficiently occupies a very narrow footprint, but also takes into account the way that people use the spaces they inhabit—in this case, providing a spa-like bathroom experience in a very narrow sliver of space.

(Image credit: Thomas Rusch for Dwell)

It’s definitely an apartment that packs in the character—and plenty of ingenuity—into a very small space. If you’d like to see more, check out the full tour at Dwell.