Smart ideas for micro apartments

When living space becomes scarcer, living areas in the home begin to merge, calling for multifunctionality. Modern space-saving concepts prove that quality of life doesn’t have to suffer here at all.

While microapartments were stuck with the image of improvised student digs for a long time, they are currently experiencing a change in perception. Living in a small space can be comfortable and is attractive to commuting managers and job hoppers in temporary living situations, amongst others, in its luxurious format.

The current microapartment boom in cities has meant that furnished flats have become popular once more because small spaces often require custom-fit or individual solutions.

The two-in-one Work-Dress by Berlin designer Michael Hilgers shows that there doesn’t always have to be a built-in system in a microapartment. Here, a seemingly normal closet transforms into a convenient, extendable working space including a filing cabinet in no time at all. The Berlin designer is known for his intelligent space solutions. His ‘flatmate’, for example, developed for Müller Möbelwerkstätten, takes up 0.9 m2 of floor space and is probably the smallest fully equipped secretaire around.

A lot of furniture can now be easily operated by app or voice control. For example, wall units can be automatically opened or lowered to a comfortable height from the ceiling on command. This way, parts of a flat are made accessible that would normally remain unused. Movable room dividers and partition walls also offer the possibility to use spaces in a varied way and fully exploit their potential.

For a few years now, there has been a notable tendency towards smaller pieces of free-standing furniture. Scandinavian furniture brands in particular are increasingly presenting cocktail instead of lounge chairs, intimate two-seat instead of XXL sofas and modestly proportioned desks on delicate legs.

This trend is not just a question of aesthetics, but is also because the Scandinavian design culture’s pragmatism simply fits to the current times. Maybe that’s why corresponding furniture and lifestyle concepts are trendy at the moment. They combine what is necessary with what is pleasing to the eye, and lend the reduction trend a cosy touch.

The urbanisation trend, demographic change and the simultaneous breakthrough of digitisation mutually reinforce each of their influence on our living culture, which is set to change sustainably in the next decades. The development is moving towards diverse concepts and multifunctional products that will define space and furniture as a single entity more closely.