Small Spaces

Think Small features a nautically inspired New York home and a little red house with a lot of character in Seattle. Photo by: Adam Friedberg

Sliced in half long ago, the 17th-century Halbhaus (or “Half House”) in Switzerland was recently reworked by designer Jonathan Tuckey as a family getaway.

The plan allows for a full length tub in the bathroom – usually a luxury in a studio apartment. Micro-unit LaunchPad. Clei s.r.l/Resource Furniture; Designed by Pierluigi Colombo and architecture by Amie Gross Architects. Photography by John Halpern. Courtesy of the Museum of the City of New York

A portion of the exhibition is dedicated to small-space living innovation in other parts of the country and abroad. In these Yokohama, Japan, apartments, living spaces are raised above a communal area used for lectures, parties, performances and meetings. The open space provides an anchor for social gatherings in the community. Yokohama Apartments, Yokohama, Japan, 2009. Architect: ON Design (Osamu Nishida). Courtesy ON Design

The Entertainment Shelf includes a panel that slides to reveal easy-to-reach shelves on either side.

In its closed position, the piece looks like a storage unit. A door on wheels slides open to reveal a kitchen inside.

The Box Kitchen contains two burners, a ventilation hood, a sink, a dishwasher, and a microwave. A fold-down laminated countertop creates a prep surface.

Inspired by the small scale of Japanese residences—in particular, Makoto Masuzawa’s 1952 Minimum House—architect Andrew Simpson designed his own economical 538-square-foot home set into a wooded site in Island Bay, a coastal suburb outside Wellington, New Zealand.

“There’s that iteration you go through, trying to both maximize space and the feeling of space,so that it doesn’t feel cramped.”—Andrew Simpson