The Lego Apartment - Clever Design Solutions to Maximize Small Apartments

Back in college, our professors challenged us to design a fully functional cube house. As far as I could remember, the restriction was a 6m x 6m building footprint, and we could only half that area for our second floor.

As first-year architecture students, we had to crack our heads to fit all the furnishing inside the house. Looking back, I thought I was able to maximize all of the space in my design solution.

When I found a video on youtube, I realized that there is more than one solution to solving a problem. There are simple and straightforward solutions, and there are out-of-the-box clever solutions. 

One such design is the Lego Apartment by Architect Barbara Appolloni, which maximized every inch of the 24sqm apartment. Although the apartment has a small space, the designer managed to incorporate all the apartment's basic amenities and storage space while still maintaining a spacious interior. Had youtube been available back then, I would have gotten my inspiration from this video.

Check out the video and tell us your thoughts on his clever design.

Sliding House - dRMM Architects

I found this cool house designed by dRMM Architects. The whole exterior wall slides out and exposes a fully glazed enclosure. I really like the concept of the house and this is definitely thinking outside the box.

Here is the link to the article

Source: Architectural Record

Egg House

Innovation has driven technology to higher heights and has greatly increased the standard of living in our lives. It has made a lot of things easier and cheaper. In the the recent years architects have been searching for the solution for a eco friendly sustainable home. Unfortunately most current solutions have a very high cost which usually deters a lot of people.

One architect in china has found a way to design a house stripped down to its bare necessities. Although after reviewing some of the photos I have some concerns about where he would go to take a bath or leak. I think his design of the egg house is one step closer to providing some form of shelter to a lot of homeless people.

source: Yahoo

Private Islands for Sale

I've always dreamed of owning my own Island. I never thought that a person could really won one, if he has the cash to pay for it.

Ram Island

Ram Island, Private Islands Online

Place: Machias Bay, Maine, 50 miles east ofBar Harbor
Asking Price: $595,000
Acreage: 16
Undeveloped

One tree, a few sheep, a 20 by 20 foot platform for pitching a tent, and a mooring in the cove. The rest is grass, rocks, and 360-degree views of the ocean and bay.

Charlie's Island

Charlie's Island, Private Islands Online

Where: Near Marathon, in the Florida Keys
Asking Price: $995,000
Acreage: 0.32
Undeveloped

The turquoise-colored roofs you see in the picture are open-air sitting areas with decks, chairs, and a campfire cooking area. But the island also comes with a 38-foot houseboat, not pictured here, that sleeps 4-5 people. Great reefs nearby for snorkeling. All the seafood you can eat.

Snug Harbour Island

Snug Harbour Island, Private Islands Online

Where: On Georgian Bay, Ontario, Canada
Asking Price: $1,057,000
Acreage: 3
Developed

A two-hour drive from Toronto, this island features a two-bedroom, two-bath cottage with a glassed-in porch overlooking the water, a separate guest cabin with bathroom, hot tub built into the rock outcropping, and a boathouse with deep water mooring. Running water, electric, a septic field. And it has wireless Internet access. So you could get away from it all, but still check your e-mail, Facebook, and Twitter accounts.

Watch Island

Watch Island, Private Islands Online

Place: St. Lawrence Seaway, near Clayton, NY
Asking Price: $1,950,000
Acreage: 1.3
Developed

There are 1,400 lakes in the Thousand Lakes region of upstate New York. But few of them come with a 6,500-square-foot mansion -- ten bedrooms, four bathrooms, plus a boat house and dock. About an hour-and-a-half drive from either Syracuse or Montreal.

Little Hog Cay

Little Hog Cay, Private Islands Online

Place: Near Abacos, Northern Bahamas
Asking Price: $1,950,000
Acreage: 25
Partially developed

Notice the lagoon that separates the west side of the island from the east. On the west side sits a studio home and a guest cabana with an electric generator. The east side is undeveloped. Marina and airstrip are a 15-minute boat ride away, on the main island of Abacos.

5 Cove Island

Place: Howe Sound, British Columbia, between Whistler and Vancouver
Asking Price: $2,950,000
Acreage: 5
Developed

A 30-minute boat ride from the city of Vancouver, this island is up for sale to developers, with an approved subdvision plan.

Source: Yahoo Realestate

Space Saving Furniture

I have been browsing the net for modern furniture and came across this video about a furniture company offering multi purpose furniture. I took a look at the video and was amazed by how innovative and practical their designs were. Although most of there designs looks so simple it requires precision designing in order to achieve those multi functional furniture.

The furniture found in their catalog are very useful especially to those small apartments where space is limited. They have all sorts of furnishings ranging from sofa, beds, tables, and cabinets. It also helps organizes the interior and lessens the clutter in the interior space since the furniture has multiple purposes. Whats unique about their product is you can integrate the furniture in your designs and add it to the unique features in your interior. It also takes up very minimal space and are perfect to enhance the interior space since they are well designed and simple to use.

To check their product line kindly visit their website at:

www.resourcefurniture.com/