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Studio apartment living

Display Room

Affordable urban living is all about space. Just think small.

Tasmanian writer-cum-property-developer Hal is a firm believer in the old adage that less is more. When he set about turning a dilapidated two-storey Hobart terrace into a modern apartment complex he wanted to create something that would bring young singles back into the city and challenge our notions of comfort and space.

The result is Living Studios: an award-winning development comprising six 25sqm studio units that have rewritten the rules on inner-city living.

"I've always felt that we don't need the huge spaces we're so used to in Australia," says Hal. "Studios make sense in cities. They're more affordable and make better sense environmentally."

In this case studios made good commercial sense, too. Because the tight CBD site had no car parking, Hal's market was limited.

"The people I was targeting were singles or couples who didn't drive cars," he says. "So instead of luxury apartments they had to be affordable. I had to price them somewhere between $170,000 and $190,000, and the only way that was going to be viable was if I put in studios."

But selling studios to space-hungry Aussies was always going to be a challenge; first Hal would have to remedy their 'shoebox' reputation. To this end, he enlisted the services of local trio 1+2 Architecture.

1+2's first stroke of space-saving genius was to fit each studio with a piece of double-sided joinery that divides the living/bedroom area from the bathroom. On one side it houses all the kitchen fittings, while the laundry and bathroom fittings slot snuggly into the other.

Working with such a small footprint, 1+2 also had to make the most of the studios' vertical dimensions. Lofty ceilings and a slight change in floor level between the bed/living area and bathroom give a sense of depth and volume.

And, to combat any sense of claustrophobia, careful attention was paid to lighting and ventilation.

"Each apartment has large windows that open onto a light shaft that comes up through the core of the building, so there's a kind of borrowed space that everyone can benefit from," says 1+2's Fred Ward. "We also got all the services off the ceiling, so all the lighting is on the walls, or the top of the joinery and projects upwards, adding to the sense of spaciousness."

As for storage, where most studios fall down, these go up - literally. The stairs that lead up to the bathroom double as drawers and all the floor space beneath the bath area is for storage as well.

With all the studios now owner-occupied, there can be no doubt that the gamble has paid off.

"One of the things that's happened is that the apartments have been bought by single people under the age of 30, so a real sense of community has developed there. In fact it's a bit of a Melrose Place," says Fred.

Hal agrees: "Being in the centre of the city you can just go down to the caf and that will be your living room. The whole city belongs to you."