Think Inside The Box: Plywood Units Add Style & Function to Tiny London Apartment

London, like many major cities, is facing an affordable housing crisis. In order to combat what they call a “Hollow London” where middle income renters are priced out of the city by foreign buyers who are only in London part time, property developers U+I have turned to micro apartments. In order to make the spaces more functional and more visually appealing, they enlisted the help of architecture firm Ab Rogers Design. The studio created a pair of plywood units that maximize the apartment’s tiny footprint, without forsaking style.

In order to offer affordable micro-housing that people would actually be excited to live in, U+I tasked Ab Rogers to come up with a design first approach to the 205 square foot/19 square meter apartment.

The result is two compact structures, made of birch plywood to create a warm and inviting feel, that combine storage with the basic elements of an apartment. One unit is a loft bed above tall cabinets, accessed by stairs that double as drawers. The other unit houses the sleek white-tiled bathroom, with the cooking area on the exterior.

While the space is undeniably small, a large window floods the studio with light and the just-shy of 10 foot ceilings give the space an airiness the helps the unit feel bigger. The designers left over half of the floor space open so occupants are able to personalize and fill the space as they see fit.

Would you live in a well-designed micro-apartment?

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h/t Dezeen