00:04We're in Northcote Point in Auckland, New Zealand, in a very leafy suburb, and the
00:10apartment is above the double garage. Previous to it being an apartment, it was
00:16what we kindly called a man cave. It really was a storage space.
00:28The space was guided by the size of the garage. It's 36 square metres, although it has pitched
00:35roof, so that adds some complications in terms of the usable space.
00:41This is a home for a couple. The gentleman is a big man, and this is a small space, so
00:47that had to be taken into account, and his wife, who is an artist. So really it was making
00:52a space that was going to suit these two people for them to live in.
00:58One opens the door, and there are some quite steep stairs, kauri stairs. They were a little
01:03rugged, so I decided to paint those in a dark charcoal to give them a sharpness and a definition.
01:10And then we come into this very light space. It has a certain shadow about it, depending
01:18on the time of day, with the sort of a hazy white, with a bit of grey in it.
01:24Light mat-eye flooring. It was very quiet, very peaceful.
01:30As we come up the stairs, we see immediately the pitch of the roof and the storage cabinets.
01:37Now, that was an obvious thing for me to put under the pitch of the roof. It's about a metre
01:43from the floor until we get to the beams. And this provided a perfect opportunity for storing
01:50the TV, which is opposite the seating area, and pretty well anything else.
02:00The kitchenette has small appliances, a small oven-cum-microwave and a refrigerator, and a small,
02:12very workable bench with a sink, one of the smallest that I could find, that fits an oven
02:18tray and made sure that everything that was going in the oven also went in the sink. Extra
02:25bench space could be used on top of the cabinetry or the dining table here, if you needed extra
02:33chopping space, for instance.
02:38The seating area, my clients, they like to watch television. They're big music fans, so
02:43they have a good music system in the cupboards, and they're readers. So, two comfortable mid-century
02:48chairs with some stackable tables here.
02:54My clients, he goes out to work, he might need to iron a shirt. So, I've got to fold out
02:59ironing boards. You know, I tried to think of how you'd go about your busy morning, domestics,
03:04just making it simple and a few little clever tricks.
03:10And then behind there is the queen-size bed with lamps. Now, the bed had to be put
03:16on a foot on a foot on base because of the pitch of the roof. It couldn't be a higher
03:22bed. But that
03:23works perfectly well. And opposite that, we've built a closet for all of their clothes and storage
03:30at the top. It seemed to be a good dividing space.
03:40The bathroom is quite a large bathroom. I call it a full-size bathroom. It doesn't have a bath,
03:45of course, but it's got a big shower. And it's tucked away to one side. It's opposite the end of
03:50the bed. So, it's not visible from your living space. The bathroom has also got storage that mirrors
03:57the storage out in the living space, so that we keep a sort of a harmony about it.
04:03I've mentioned my client. He's a big man. I didn't want him to feel that he was in a compromised
04:10space.
04:12I think many people who would approach a small space might consider that they could have a sofa
04:18that converted to a bed and whatever. And it wasn't my idea about the space. I quite liked the idea
04:24that they would come in and it was all here. They didn't have to do anything. They didn't have to
04:28pull anything down, remake a bed, whatever. It was all just here. It was very quiet, very peaceful.
04:35I think there's a huge future for these small spaces in terms of density in our city. I think
04:41that's what makes the city. I think it gives a tremendous energy to the city when we're all living
04:46fairly closely together. My one comment about it was that we have to think very carefully
04:52about the integrity of the spaces that we expect people to live in. They have to be good spaces.
04:59They have to be quality spaces. But I think that that's the way of the future.
Comments