Eric Schneider, a 3rd grade teacher in Manhattan, bought a 450 sf studio apartment for $235,000. To put the area in context, it was basically a 15′ x 30′ room with a tiny kitchen at the end. With the innovative design shown in the video below, that little studio apartment was transformed into having a cook’s kitchen, bedroom and guest room with some privacy, a home office or a reasonably large entertaining room. Sounds like magic, doesn’t it? Watch the video.

By choosing the compact way, Eric trades some time pulling down and folding up for utility of a much bigger and more expensive living space. I appreciated the line by the designer in the video about working in a scale between furniture and architecture. They embedded electronics, lighting and plumbing all together. Good design and good construction pulls these items together in improved functionality.

With all the apartments being designed and built these days, perhaps we should consider the value of some smaller footprints with model units showing how to maximize the space.