Hong Kong Apartments

One of my lecturers' mentioned something about a video on Hong Kong Apartment in class. I couldn't hear the words clearly but it got me interested (anything related to interior design or jewelry interests me) and since it is related to the topic my group and I are working, I decided to check up on it. I found a video of a certain Hong Kong apartment on Youtube. I'm not sure if it's the one my lecturer mentioned but I watched it anyway. Here is the video:

The video is actually about an apartment space which is about 32 sq m (which is equal to 344 sq ft, it's even smaller than the studio apatments in Singapore). An architect, who had lived in in for 40 years, designed the apartment so that it can morph into 24 different rooms. 24!!! That's like a mansion and he was able to fit all of that into such a small space. Initially it would look an average open studio, but by pulling handles and walls sliding across steel tracks, he can have a mini bar, a 'maximum kitchen', a spa room, a lot things many people can only wish to have in their apartment. And the problem this architect has is too much storage. What people would give to have such a luxury as too much storage.

Although the place looks quite high tech, he stated that it is the opposite, and while he can control everything by using his smartphone, he prefers to do it manually.

Persona - Commuter

Hello, you can call me Sam for short. I am a Malaysian female who is further studying in Singapore. At the same time I am also working as a designer assistant for a virtual company. I spend most of the time out in school or at work, so you can see I’m hardly home at all except during the weekends. I am not very social, which is the reason I bought a studio apartment so I do not have to share with a roommate whom I am not familiar with. It is easier for me to work in peace without getting constantly distracted.

Seeing as I am a foreigner, I have to work part time to pay the bills and some of the tuition fees (the rest are being paid off by my family in my homeland).  I never had much money in the first place so I was only able to rent a studio apartment as it is cheap. It was either that or the dorms. The dorms are more expensive but the fees can be split with a roommate, but it makes me uncomfortable when socializing with people.

I noticed that the studio apartments in Singapore are quite small, but honestly I do not really care. I am too busy to take note of the lack of space around me. However, when I do notice it, I sometimes get overwhelmed by the sheer lack of space. But other than that, I’m pretty much indifferent to it. I mostly keep my studio apartment minimalist to make the room comfortable. Again, although it is too small, regarding that I only come home to take a rest after work and directly go to my workplace in the next morning, the small size might not be a serious problem for me.

Plus living in smaller spaces means cheaper electric bills, since it takes less energy to light and cool the room. So it really helps with saving money. It also helps me in deciding whether to buy something or not, since I have to get rid of something else to make space. It is also easy for me to multitask since everything is within reach. I don’t have to go from one room to the other just to eat or get something for work.

However, sometimes, having a small space can be problematic.  I can be very messy and disorganized at times and that leads to having things around the place. It is very annoying having to walk through the clutter and it can be rather distracting whenever I am doing something important because my eyes tend to stray to the mess.

Then, there is the problem of where I am living in. I’m lucky to have lived near a train station so I can get to the campus or my workplace with little difficulty.  But there are times where I wished I could live nearer so that I do not have to take so much time to get from my apartment to the campus or the workplace. Then I could have gotten a bit more sleep instead of having to wake so early. I don’t really have much of a problem with my neighbours as they are mostly quiet. Even if they are noisy, I can handle it, since I am a heavy sleeper. Getting to sleep is the problem.

Then there is also the problem with having guest over.  There was once a time I had to bring my group over for a group discussion. My group consisted of 6 people including me. If you do not know, I am claustrophobic, which means I cannot handle tight and closed off spaces, which is also one of the reasons why I’m out almost all the time. So when I had them over, I could barely breathe. There were so many people in such a small space. It was almost suffocating! And if it is already this bad having 5 people over, I cannot imagine having more people than that coming in.  And sometimes I have to keep their itchy fingers away from certain compartment. It would be so embarrassing if they found out what was stored in there.

Empathizing

Looking at it from a student's point of view, especially a foreign student, I would say having a studio apartment has its ups and downs. For one, since it would just be me living in it, despite it being relatively small, it is an alright size for one person. And since it is quite small, it takes less time to clean it (I heard it takes less than 10 min to clean the place). Unlike living in a dorm, I don't have to share with a roommate, so I can avoid the typical roommate drama. It is also easier to multitask, as everything is near to me, so less time consuming. Rental is also cheap compared to one bedroom apartments, which helps to save money. Electrical bills are also cheaper, as there is less space to cool, so again it saves money. Also, being a foreign student living in a different country, I have to work part time to pay the bills, so I'm hardly inside the studio. If anything, the studio apartment is just a place for me to sleep and for storage,.so, having a small studio apartment is a good thing.

But there are also a disadvantages of living in one. For instance, seeing as I'm hardly inside and I'm always in a hurry, I have a tendency to leaving things around the place, which makes the place very disorganized, so I had to shuffle my way through the clutter, which is considerably hard if I'm in a hurry. And if I have projects, which accumulates every month, there is little space to store them without ruining them. Also if I'm bringing visitors, there will be little to no privacy, which is quite embarrassing if they see something  they shouldn't. It also cancels out the possibility of a party or a sleepover, seeing as the place is too small for a group of  people. And although I hardly cook in the studio apartment, when I do, there will always be either oil stains on the furniture or the room smelling like food for the next few days. So, it is quite unpleasant. Not too mention I have to pay rental fees and bills myself, unlike in dorms where I can split the bills with a roommate. And since the space is quite small, you need to conserve as much space as you can, which means you have to get rid of some things to make room or it'll get stuffy and cramped. So if you're indecisive like me or you're a big furniture lover, you're gonna face some difficulty.

So yeah, all in all, like I said, there are ups and downs to living in a studio apartment. But luckily, I plan on leaving once my studies have been completed, so I don't have to go through this for the rest of my life. Even if I do plan on staying, I wouldn't be living in a studio apartment. Once I start working and manage to save up enough money, I would rather buy a one bedroom apartment. But for now I'll just endure it.

Studio apartments are too small. A problem?

I find many problems concerning with the studio apartment being too small. Firstly, it can only accommodate only 1 person, 2 at most. It is certainly not an ideal place for families. The space is just too small for a family of three, let alone four and i find that it will be quite awkward among them, especially if the children would prefer their own room. Secondly, there is not much space for a lot of furniture to begin with so in order to maximize space one must use multipurpose furniture, like a sofa bed for instance. Buying a furniture only meant for one purpose will only minimize the space. And the bigger the furniture, the lesser the space. And then there is the space itself. It is really small, seeing it is just ONE room for everything (minus the bathroom) kitchen, living room and bedroom, and that actually means no privacy for residents should visitors enter. They will see EVERYTHING. There also comes safety issues. Should a person choose a studio apartment where the kitchen resides directly parallel to the front door, and should a fire break out, it will cut off their only means of escape, basically leaving them trapped. The government themselves are also not helping, seeing that in order to accommodate the ever increasing population, they must shrink the already tight spaces. In Singapore its worse, as it is a small country, and the government needs to save plot land for either economical reasons or to build things that will boost up the finances. There are good things that come with studio apartments, but I find that disadvantages outweigh them all.