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    Eight compact micro interiors that make the most of their small space

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    For our latest lookbook, we’ve collected eight micro apartments and micro homes that use clever solutions to fit the most into a single room, which often functions as both the living room and the bedroom.

    A “sleeping cocoon” and built-in space-saving furniture are among the solutions used to create comfortable living and sleeping spaces in these projects.
    The interiors, which range from a home in Taipei to a small apartment in Beirut, feature a number of innovative designs that allow their owners and tenants to stretch out – even in spaces that are as small as 15 square metres.
    This is the latest in our lookbooks series, which provides visual inspiration from Dezeen’s archive. For more inspiration, see previous lookbooks featuring minimalist kitchens and homes with pyramidal ceilings.
    Photo by Pierce ScourfieldFerguson, Scotland, by Lee Ivett, Simon Harlow and Duncan Blackmore

    Colour decorates the walls in this 25-square-metre apartment in Glasgow, which doesn’t contain any freestanding furniture. Instead, a fixed bench and a shelf that functions as a desk create a living room and workspace.
    The bed can be found on a mezzanine that sits above a compact shower room and is reached via wooden steps. Custom-made sinks ensure that the white goods don’t take up too much space in the flat, which the owner uses as a temporary base in the city.
    Find out more about Ferguson ›

    Corten steel micro home, Lithuania, by IM Interior
    This micro home located inside a former garage in Lithuania shows “how little a person needs,” said designer Indrė Mylytė-Sinkevičienė, founder of IM Interior.
    The home measures 21 square metres and has warm birch wood lining. Its bed is positioned like a window seat beneath one of its two narrow windows and surrounded by concealed storage. A slim, built-in shelf functions as both a desk and a dining table.
    Find out more about the Corten steel home ›
    Photo is by Hey! CheeseMicro-flat, Taiwan, by A Little Design
    Local studio A Little Design used built-in, space-saving furniture for this Taipei apartment, which measures just 17.6 square metres.
    Built-in cabinets provide storage next to a staircase that leads up to a mezzanine bed, while a foldable table can be used as a desk or dining space.
    Find out more about the micro-flat ›
    Photo is by Peter BennettsMicroloft, Melbourne, by Studio Edwards
    Chipboard was used to create much of the furniture in this 24-square-metre apartment in Melbourne, including storage units, a sofa and a bed.
    The designers also customised IKEA furniture for the home, wrapping a bedside stool in recycled aluminium to help with the acoustics and using aluminium legs to extend the same stools to create seats for dining.
    Find out more about Microloft ›
    Photo by Ståle EriksenShoji Apartment, UK, by Proctor & Shaw
    A translucent “sleeping cocoon” wrapped in panels that reference Japanese shoji screens gave this flat its name. Designed by London studio Proctor & Shaw, it measures 29 square metres and has a design that takes advantage of its high ceilings.
    “This apartment renovation project is conceived as a prototype for micro-living in existing housing stock with constrained floor areas but traditionally generous ceiling heights,” explained the studio.
    Find out more about Shoji Apartment ›
    Photo by Marwan HarmouchShoe Box, Lebanon, by Eliemetni
    This compact Beirut apartment, located on the roof of an old building, has just 15 square metres of floor space but manages to fit everything into one room.
    The floor was coated in white epoxy to maximise the light in the small space, which has lots of under-bed and under-seating storage in its custom-built space-saving furniture. Matching white walls add an airy feel to the space.
    Find out more about Shoe Box ›
    Photo by Koji Fujii Nacasa and PartnersLove2 House, Japan, by Takeshi Hosaka
    This Tokyo micro home, which measures 19 square metres, receives plenty of natural light from its two large skylights.
    Architect Takeshi Hosaka built it for himself and his wife, designing the compact home with seven partitions that extend out from the reinforced concrete walls to define the dining, kitchen and sleeping zones.
    A large sliding door opens the home up to the street, creating additional space in the warm months.
    Find out more about Love2 House ›
    Photo by JAG StudioDoméstico, Ecuador, by Juan Alberto Andrade and María José Váscones
    Located inside the Qorner building in Quito, Ecuador, this micro apartment measures 27.5 square metres and features a floor-to-ceiling unit that the designers described as a “habitable artifact”.
    It contains storage space as well as a bed and desk, both of which fold up. A door in the corner leads to a bathroom with a sink, shower and toilet.
    Find out more about Doméstico ›
    This is the latest in our lookbooks series, which provides visual inspiration from Dezeen’s archive. For more inspiration, see previous lookbooks featuring minimalist kitchens and homes with pyramidal ceilings.

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      Amsterdam apartment block features cupboard bedrooms

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      Dutch design studio Blom Interieurs has created playful interiors with cupboard bedrooms for Shift Architecture Urbanism’s Domūs Houthaven residential complex in Amsterdam.

      The complex, which contains 235 compact rental apartments, was created to provide high-density living, utilising space and materials effectively.
      The 235 apartments in Domūs Houthaven contain cupboard bedroomsEach apartment contains a bedroom cupboard with built-in shelves and under-bed drawers. The sleeping cupboard can be closed off from the living space with perforated steel folding doors.
      “Close the doors and your whole apartment becomes your living room; open them at night and you have a huge bedroom,” Shift Architecture Urbanism partner Oana Rades told Dezeen.
      Each apartment features a “smart-living core”Designed by Shift Architecture Urbanism, individual apartments range in size from 43 to 60 square metres, with colour-blocked modular units arranged according to the building’s floor plan. 

      At the heart of every apartment is a “smart-living core” – a central cell comprising a kitchen, box bedroom, bathroom and storage space. By incorporating floor-to-ceiling storage, the studio maximised the space.

      Shift Architecture Urbanism adapts historic Dutch monastery for ageing residents

      Blom Interieurs oversaw production and assembly of the “smart-living core” modules and the fixed furniture in the common areas.
      The bedroom cupboard doors were the most challenging aspect, the studio told Dezeen. “For such daily intensive use, the doors had to be sturdy and robust and at the same time easy to operate. Our solution was steel.”
      Domūs Houthaven residents have access to shared living spacesThe steel doors, pale laminate floors, untreated concrete ceilings and white walls were designed to contrast with the brightly coloured furnishings and modular units.
      As well as their individual apartments, residents have access to shared co-working, living, cooking, utility and garden spaces. Shift Architecture Urbanism designed the communal spaces to encourage interaction between residents and “prevent loneliness”.
      “The communal spaces are designed to feel homely, as an extension of one’s own private apartment,” said Rades.
      Built-in furniture can be seen throughout the communal areasBuilt-in furniture features throughout the multifunctional living area, including a wood-lined seating area that doubles as a bookcase. 
      Separating the living and the co-working spaces is a small kitchen unit lined in pastel-green ceramic tiles. A large television sits in a wooden cabinet that acts as a room partition while also providing further storage and open shelving. 
      “Four large pieces of furniture act as room dividers, differentiating the large open space into smaller ones that feel intimate,” Rades explained. 
      The internal layout is organised to maximise available spaceThroughout the project, the studio aimed to use a variety of colours, patterns and materials. Doors and window frames in pastel tones match the curtains in each of the apartments, while recessed window ledges provide informal seating areas. 
      “[We used] a rich complementing material palette with contrasting tactile and graphic appearance,” said Rades.
      “The material palette is very diverse: from bamboo and wood veneer to corrugated steel plates to ceramic tiles and terrazzo.” 
      The studio set out to use a bright, playful colour paletteA pavilion on the roof contains a communal kitchen that functions as a cooking studio, with a central island clad in turquoise tiles and a contrasting long red dining table. 
      A speckled grey seating ledge runs below the wraparound glazing, which provides views of the surrounding area and skyline beyond.
      Shift Architecture Urbanism used a range of materials throughout the projectOther recent projects by Shift Architecture Urbanism include an adaptation of a historic Dutch monastery for ageing residents and the renovation of a derelict four-storey home in Rotterdam, replacing brickwork with glazing to create two light-filled apartments.
      The photography is by Pim Top and Rob Lipsius. 

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      Urban Cabin is a micro apartment in Italy with custom seating and storage

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      Architect Francesca Perani has transformed the porch of an Italian villa into a 25-square-metre micro-apartment suitable for self-isolation with plenty of hidden storage. Designed for a local couple, Urban Cabin replaces the porch of a house in Albino, a small town in the Italian province of Bergamo. Perani’s renovation, completed with the help of interior designer […] More