Hong Kong architects turn 309-sq-ft apartment into an epic transformable home (VIDEO)

In Hong Kong there appear to be two choices for housing: foregoing meals to be able to rent a parking-lot-sized flat in a convenient area, or living like royalty with your own fiefdom for next to nothing… in the middle of nowhere. 

Hong Kong couple Michelle Tennant and Andy Knight, having decided that “they couldn’t imagine living anywhere else” other than Central, which is “the heart of Hong Kong”, had to settle on buying a flat that only had 309 square feet of space. That usually translates to: do I need a sofa or a fridge more?

But they found a middle ground that probably wouldn’t work for everybody, even if they had the money: buying a tiny flat and having interior design wizards incorporate every single feature imaginable, space constraints be damned. 
 

Transformable space in Central

Their wishlist included a gym, a bathtub, a large kitchen and a home theatre, and the endlessly patient architects of LAAB, a young award-winning Hong Kong architectural and design agency, delivered them all. 

The apartment went from this… 


(Photo: LAAB)

To this. Ta-dahhh!

(Photo: LAAB)

In order to fulfill the couple’s demands, the designers came up with ways the home could transform throughout the day, uncovering different features and spaces as sections are moved or hidden. They even found space to create specially designed nooks and crannies for the pet cats. 

Therefore the bathtub doubles as a sofa space, a theatre space and a guest bedroom depending on the tenants’ needs. And now we’re all gazing at our sofa wondering why it’s not transforming into a relaxing bathtub for the evening, and why we can’t watch TV on a massive flat-screen whilst luxuriating in said bath…

One of the many designs for the transformable home (Still from video)

The designers said it took them about 40 redesigns until they arrived at one that would work, which we assume required magic and/or warping of the space-time continuum.  

NOTE: This article has been edited.
 


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