clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

See a 390-Square-Foot Studio Morph Into 5 Different Rooms

New, 25 comments
All images via Alan Tansey for MKCA.

This sounds like an urban myth, but it isn't: In Gramercy, there's a 390-square-foot studio that holds a queen-sized bed, living area, dining area for four, a decent amount of storage, and still has room for entertaining. The catch? The apartment is essentially robotic. The same architecture firm behind one of the city's most famous micro-digs, MKCA, bestowed the foldable apartment treatment onto this compact space and created 5:1, a highly-proficient studio that uses a mechanized moving wall to form different areas when needed throughout the day (h/t The Contemporist).

What allows the tiny studio to be all that it is is the MKCA-designed "motorized sliding storage element." The motorized wall moves across the apartment to create a dressing area or, when pulled farther toward the couch, space enough for a queen-sized bed that's stored upright in a wall-abutting unit. The sliding storage element holds the apartment's audio wiring and TV, which can be pivoted 180 degrees and viewed from the couch or bed.

More On Microdwellings:
How One New Yorker Lives Comfortably In 90 Square Feet
New York City's 14 Most Famous Micro Apartments
Tour a Totally Livable 242-Square-Foot West Village Apartment

The apartment's kitchen and bathroom were also renovated when the wall was installed, but they're plain ol' standard issue. This inspiring little studio is proof that there is hope yet for the city's pitiful, tiny microdwellings.


· This Small Apartment In New York Has A Moving TV Wall [The Contemporist]
· MKCA [official]
· New York City's 14 Most Famous Micro Apartments [Curbed]
· All Adventured In Interior Design [Curbed]
· All Microdwellings coverage [Curbed]