A couple wanting to live in central Hong Kong found the perfect place. The only problem... It was just 309 square feet.
And Michelle Tennant wanted a large kitchen, a large bathtub. Andy Knight wanted a huge TV, big home cinema, and a gym. Oh, and they have three cats.
“When Otto gave me the debrief from the client, we thought, ‘Hey Houston, we’ve got a problem here,’” said Ricci Wong, co-founder of architect firm, LAAB, who tackled the project. “How can we fit so many stuff into a small space capsule. But, when they talked about the experimental transforming idea, it seemed really really good.”
Otto Ng, the other co-founder of LAAB, said they went through about 40 iterations of the design until they got the final one.
“We have to think beyond the three-dimensional space. Then we engaged the fourth dimension element—which is time,” said Ng. “For example, the bathtub space is also a sofa space. It could also become a movie theater space, as well as a guest bedroom space. … So a lot of functions happening in a small space at different time of the day.”
“Our craftsmanship had to be really precise because the space does not allow us to have more than 3mm tolerance. And our design also has to adopt new technological upgrades in the future,” Ng said.
“I’m proud that we made it.”
They even managed to fit in a cat walk, cat ladder and other spaces for the cats.
“I was very impressed by the amount of thought they put into the cat runs and everything for the cats,” Tennant said. “The cats really love it!
“Our friends—I don’t think they’ve ever seen such a high tech house before. Whenever people come over, it’s always excitement and surprise about what we can do and what we have in such a small space.”
Knight agreed. “But more than that, it’s also about how comfortable the whole thing is,” he said. “People like coming over and spending time at our place.”
“We love it.”
