00:03The 13 square meter house is a part of a series of projects that we've been exploring for quite
00:09some years now. This project was about how we could make a comfortable house with such a tiny
00:17footprint. As far as we know it's probably one of the smallest houses in London.
00:32My name is Nina Tolstrup, a part of Studio Mama, together with Jack Mama. We founded Studio Mama in 2000
00:41and have been going ever since.
00:46Our little house here is located in North London, Islington.
00:52It's on a very lovely street which is in a conservation area.
01:00It's very close to a canal which has got lots of lovely cafes and houseboats. It's very lively in the
01:06summer.
01:10This building came up around the 1980s and was used as a minicab office.
01:17When we bought it on auction there had been an elderly lady that lived here for a while.
01:24The house has been rented out since we have had it. We have not been able to live here ourselves
01:29because I have a family with kids.
01:31We might do one day. But our previous tenant lived here for three years very happily.
01:40When we bought it the space was not in great shape.
01:44The main footprint of the space was taken up by a bed which also doubled as a sofa.
01:53We kept the location of the bathroom and the kitchen the same because all the surfaces was fixed.
02:01We have put all the storage units along the walls and inserted a Murphy bed at the end.
02:13The entrance is like a mini tunnel so it's quite confined to give the sense of journey into the actual
02:21room.
02:24You have storage on both sides so one is obviously for hanging your coat and take your shoes off.
02:34And there's cabinet for anything that has a bigger volume.
02:42Everything in here is made from ply.
02:45It feels like a sort of borderless space.
02:51We worked with the existing kitchen sink and a set up that was there because it was actually really functional.
02:59We covered it with ply doors and so it just blends very much with the rest of the space now.
03:07It has an integrated fridge and cooking island.
03:12And then on top there is storage of all your kitchen utilities and pots and pans etc.
03:22There's another board that is like a chopping board which extends the work surface.
03:32It has a mirror splash back because when we're sitting in the dining area and you're looking through it kind
03:38of extends the space.
03:39The dining area is wrapped around the window frame so you would sit and have a really nice view out
03:47when you're sitting around the table.
03:50The table is comfortable for two people but it can be extended out so you can sit four or six
03:57people.
03:59One seat has under the seat storage and the other side that's backing up to the entrance is where we
04:06access the storage for the suitcase or bigger items.
04:13On this side of the space there's a complete storage wall with an integrated seating for relaxing.
04:20There's a storage unit you can pull out. There's also a poster so it's a foot rest.
04:29There's also a shelf that can pull out and that's at standing height so that you can stand and work.
04:40The storage unit is built with sliding doors so there's no doors opening into the space.
04:53The Murphy bed is in what looks like a wardrobe and one side of it's a mirror and the other
04:59side is the plied door.
05:01The door actually also functions as also kind of a barrier to the window too so it adds extra privacy.
05:09Inside the bed there is an integrated light and there is shelving for personal items.
05:18Between the bed area and the seating area there is one big storage unit that is the main storage for
05:25your everyday clothes and bedding items.
05:34The bathroom has a cubicle shower unit which was there already.
05:40Everything else we changed.
05:45We created a storage unit under the sink which has an integrated toilet roll holder.
05:53We have a quite shallow bathroom mirror which has a sliding door that has space for toiletries and so on.
06:01Even the bathroom is very small, it's very well ventilated.
06:04We got a window in there that can fully open.
06:07There's also a vent in the ceiling.
06:10The plywood is treated with a normal Osmo varnish.
06:17The house is very much a laboratory to develop ideas.
06:22It's not that we think people should live in necessarily a 13 square meter.
06:26But as the pressure on the city is that we might have smaller spaces, it could kind of show some
06:32ideas, inspiration to how we can get more out of smaller spaces.
06:38A lot of places
06:49Terrcondy seconds on this.
06:51A lot of places onésus.
06:54defensive head secured
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