The Future Of Apartments Looks Like This

The Future Of Apartments Looks Like This


We’re running out of space, and we’re running out of money — and for anyone who wants to live in a city (that would be billions of humans), that’s a problem. Here’s a solution: micro apartments that squeeze full life into a tiny box.

What you see above is the winner of New York City’s “adAPT NYC” competition, aimed at creating liveable, humane, elegantly designed apartments under the current legal minimum of 37sqm.


The “My Micro NY” design, by nARCHITECTS, does just that — you can fit your whole existence into an apartment between 26sqm and 28sqm using clever compartmentalisation, folding furniture and an eagle eye towards efficiency. According to an explanation from Mayor Bloomberg’s office,

Each unit is comprised of two distinct zones: a ‘toolbox’ containing a kitchen, bathroom and storage and a ‘canvas’ providing ample, well-proportioned flexible space allowing for individual expression, and serving as the primary living and sleeping area. ‘My Micro NY’ unites a spectrum of scales ranging from efficiently designed kitchens to the organisation of the apartments and common space, all in a simple yet iconic building.


The idea here mirrors what Gizmodo pal Graham Hill did with his own dwelling, but My Micro NY is going for scale. Next year, an entire building of micro-apartments will go up in Manhattan’s Gramercy neighbourhood, with prices that beat the hell out of anything that isn’t the lice-infested upstairs storage room in a Chinese restaurant: $US940 for a studio and around $US1700 for a two-person unit. Those are spectacular prices for New York City housing.


But this is beyond New York. Experiments like Hills show that we can live happily and beautifully inside spaces that would have looked claustrophobic and horrible on paper. But with the right brains, square footage doesn’t really mean anything.

I want to try living in one of these right now, because this is what urbanism will look like in the next century. [NYC.gov]


The Cheapest NBN 50 Plans

It’s the most popular NBN speed in Australia for a reason. Here are the cheapest plans available.

At Gizmodo, we independently select and write about stuff we love and think you'll like too. We have affiliate and advertising partnerships, which means we may collect a share of sales or other compensation from the links on this page. BTW – prices are accurate and items in stock at the time of posting.