World’s smallest fully equipped nano flat design on show in Hong Kong - two bedrooms, bathroom, a kitchen in 18 square metres
Featuring high-end furniture and fittings and two-tier living, William Lim’s concept for a nano flat, an exhibit at Hong Kong design fair, aims to show how to make maximum use of limited space without it being purely utilitarian
Hong Kong already has some of the world’s tiniest living spaces – and they’re becoming smaller.
Developers are unveiling “nano flat” developments such as Novi, a tower in the city’s densely populated Mong Kok district comprising 138 flats ranging in size from 157 sq ft to 312 sq ft. And some 200,000 people in Hong Kong already live in de facto nano flats – otherwise known as subdivided apartments – many of which are illegal and uncomfortable.
The so-called nano flats have been touted by Secretary for Transport and Housing Frank Chan Fan as a possible solution to the city’s lack of affordable housing. But many of those built by developers have been criticised for their cramped, impractical layouts. Architect William Lim, managing director of Hong Kong design firm CL3, reckons there’s a way to make nano flats work, however.
“We should think of them as three-dimensional spaces,” he says. “We have traditionally looked at spaces as floor plans, but if we start looking at them in three dimensions, we could have different levels within the space.”
Lim explores this notion in Das Haus Asia, an exhibition at the second International Design Furniture Fair Hong Kong, which runs from August 25 to 27 at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre in Wan Chai.
Tiny spaces don’t have to be void of character – they don’t have to be totally utilitarian