Poverty Is Not an Accident

Poverty Is Not an Accident
Nelson Mandela

Monday, November 07, 2011

Tiny Origami apartment in Manhattan unfolds into 4 rooms


Uploaded by on Nov 7, 2011

In 2005, third-grade-teacher Eric Schneider bought as big as an apartment as he could afford in Manhattan. He paid $235,000 for a 450-square-foot studio with a tiny kitchen.

Then he let architects Michael Chen and Kari Anderson of Normal Projects design a way to pack more density into his small space.

In order to fit more apartment in a small footprint, they created an object that's bigger than furniture, but smaller than architecture and that morphs with the changing activities of a day.

It's a large, blue, oversized cabinet that houses all of the walls/bed/tables/shelving/closets needed for at least 4 full-sized rooms.

By continuing unfold, or fold differently, Schneider can create a bedroom with accompanying built-in nightstand and closets, but an office plus library, a guest bedroom, and a living room. Or close it up entirely and simply flip down the small bar and the room becomes entertaining space for a dozen.

The Normal Projects architects called their creation the Unfolding Apartment, though given Schneider's affinity for the Japanese sense of space (he spent his first year post-college living and teaching in Japan), it could as easily be called the Origami Apartment.

The morphing cabinet cost $70,000 to custom build and while it packs in a lot- even kitchen storage and lighting for the room- but it's not meant to hide stuff, but to strategically create division and overlap of the "rooms".

In this video, Chen shows us his custom cabinet of rooms and Schneider unfolds a few of his favorite configurations: his bedroom (& closet/changing room), office (& library), guest bedroom, kitchen, dining bar, living room and lounge.

Original story here: http://faircompanies.com/videos/view/tiny-origami-apartment-in-manhattan-unfo...


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