How the Owner of this 140-Square-Foot Micro Apartment Gets By Without a Sofa

One of the things I love about small spaces is the way they encourage creativity. When you don’t have a lot of room, you’re forced to think outside the box, and this can lead to all kinds of interesting solutions. Szymon Hanczar, the denizen of an almost frighteningly efficient 140-square-foot apartment in the Polish city of Wroclaw, has come up with a solution I’ve never seen before: swapping your couch for a hammock.

This little apartment has all the necessities: sleeping spots, storage spots, a tiny bathroom, a really tiny kitchen, a desk that folds out into a table for two. But Szymon also needed, in his words, “a place to sit with his head in the clouds.” For most people that’s a couch, but for him, it’s a hammock, slung between two opposite walls of his tiny abode.

If you think about it, a hammock has many advantages over a couch: it can be hung over a radiator, as seen here, and it doesn’t block the light from the window or break up the space. It also swings gently when you’re sitting on it, which is something your couch probably doesn’t do unless there is something really wrong with your couch.

Or course, a couch can also accommodate more than one person, and won’t threaten to drop you into a disgraceful heap on the floor if you make any sudden movements. It’s definitely not a choice for the faint of heart. but the hammock-as-couch fits quite well into the aesthetic and the ethos of this particular apartment—hyper-minimal, hyper-efficient, and just a little bit outside the norm.

To see more of Szymon’s apartment, check out the full house tour on AD España.

Re-edited from a post that originally appeared 01.23.17. – AH