More evidence of the ongoing housing reset (from The L.A. Times via Planetizen):
Timm Freeman’s Santa Monica apartment has 17-foot ceilings, granite countertops and collector guitars hanging on the wall. He’s got a built-in microwave, dishwasher and central air conditioning. All in 350 square feet. Freeman’s coffee table is also his dining table. His desk is three steps from his sitting room …
Freeman’s apartment may be smaller than many suburban master bedrooms, but rents in his Olympic Studios complex are comparatively small too: $1,110 a month at the low end, and the beach is just a mile away.
Prospective tenants need to sign up for a waiting list: The 165-unit Olympic Studios has been filled since it opened in late 2008. The developers are now building a similar complex nearby, and a pint-sized apartment project is also planned for the Palms neighborhood of West Los Angeles.
The units are about the same size as a large recreational vehicle and have the same design imperative: Fit as many features as possible into a small space, but don’t make it claustrophobic.
“It’s like a Rubik’s Cube,” said Jim Andersen of NMS Properties, which built Olympic Studios. “It’s a geometry problem.”
Freeman’s living areas – kitchen, desk area and TV nook – flow from one space to the next, unimpeded by doors or hallways. The only interior door is to the bathroom. He climbs 14 carpeted steps to a landing big enough for his double bed and a closet …
Creating the smallest possible units was a competitive game in the Santa Monica firm, Killefer said, with his fellow architects challenging each other to shave off a foot here or there on the design. They started by allotting space for the necessities …
Mini-dwellings are at the frontier of a downsizing movement that’s embraced by environmentalists, and that challenges decades of a bigger-is-better trend in American homes… The smaller units make most sense in places like Santa Monica, where the cost of land is high and there is an abundance of jobs and commerce. That means people want to live there, but may not be able to afford the rents for traditional apartments.
We can expect to see more of this in the major cities and mega-regions of our increasingly spiky world as the Great Reset continues to unfold.
June 3rd, 2010 at 11:28 am
I agree that these are the future, and that medium-high income renters will rent well-appointed, smaller units.
The problem at least here in Canada, but I suspect in the US as well, is that city planning bylaws forbid suites that small (unless they are for social housing of some sort). And when I’ve asked those partially responsible for setting such guidelines, they insist that small apartments are only really appropriate for low income or social housing.
Why not let the market decide this one? Few if any private apartment developers will risk building a structure of micro-sized apartments unless they know there is a market for them. If someone wants to build 250 sq. ft. units, why not let them (assuming the building otherwise meets code and other guidelines, etc.)
Plus, I wonder if these micro-apts couldn’t also be mixed with medium sized 1 and 2 bedroom units in the same building. Creates options and would allow a private apartment developer-owner to experiment with the small units and prove they work (or learn that in some cities they may not).
June 3rd, 2010 at 2:38 pm
It would be great if they could bring rents down in the most productive regions.