Who has more experience living in cramped spaces than prisoners? Modeled after a jail cell, the ironically named Freedom Room is a 96-square-foot micro apartment offering “a different idea” for temporary and social housing, hotels and hostels. Inmates at Italy’s high-security prison in Spoleto served as consultants, using their intimate knowledge of tiny living spaces to create a living unit that is flexible and adaptable.

In working with the prisoners, the Freedom Room project leaders discovered that by necessity, most prison furniture is used for purposes other than those intended. Objects have to be multi-functional in order for such a small space to serve as the one room they have available for functions ranging from studying to working out.

The designers explain that many prison cells are lined with shelving made of cigarette cartons, and storage can be hard to come by even for the few personal possessions the prisoners own. As a result, the prisoners packed the Freedom Room with as much storage as possible, with a doorway dividing the living area from the sleeping area doubling as a shelf.

In less than 100 square feet, the inmates have managed to fit a work/dining area, two beds, drawers, overhead storage, a kitchen with a slide-out cutting board serving as a counter, and a bathroom. Additional seating hangs from the wall. Even with all of this function, the apartment feels surprisingly spacious and uncluttered – a far cry from real jail cells, and a option for meeting the growing needs for increasingly compact living spaces.

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As working from home becomes more common around the world, home office designs continue to get more creative and stylish. The small home office of Nidolab Arquitectura in Argentina creates a natural-feeling space indoors.

The tiny office is only 54 square meters but manages to create an open, outdoorsy environment. The centerpiece of the office is a moss carpet in a number of different shades. The textures of the mossy floor covering make the office feel like a little piece of nature.

In the center of the room, a floating timber platform supports a large conference table, providing ample space for meetings and for individual work spaces.

Thanks to abundant skylights and a huge window, the office doesn’t require much electricity during the day. It relies on natural lighting, which enhances the natural, organic feel of the workspace.

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Picture a tiny windowless room, just big enough to stretch out in (as long as you aren’t of above-average height) and store a few meager belongings. It sounds like the description of a prison cell, but young professionals in Tokyo are willingly paying up to $600 per month to live in cabinet-like rooms like these.

These pictures from a recent Japanese news story show the “geki-sema,” or “share houses” in all their claustrophobic detail. The cabinets are reminiscent of the capsule hotels that have been popular in Japan and other countries for years. The difference is that these “apartments” are slightly larger and are meant for long-term occupancy, not simply one night of shut-eye.

The typical geki-sema resident spends most of his or her day at the office, outdoors, or spending time away from home with friends. These tiny chambers aren’t meant to be gathering places for groups of buddies; they are strictly for sleeping, changing clothes, and perhaps keeping a few important items close at hand.

(images via: Daily Mail)

Tokyo landlords began offering this strange type of housing to cash in on the chronic housing shortage that plagues the city. The impossibly tiny apartments are often stacked to maximize the number of residents that can fit into a small area. While we can get behind the idea of small-space living, this concept takes it to the extreme. Without a private bathroom or even a window, it seems that it would be very simple to lose your sanity in a room not much larger than a coffin.

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The world is a colorful and constantly-moving place – so shouldn’t your bedroom be too? The Cromatic collection of kids’ bedroom furniture from Arasanz is a fun exploration of the connections and differences between permanent and movable furniture.

The range of furniture includes bed, storage and desks that can be configured in a number of different ways. All of the furniture is on casters, making it simple to move around into different positions in the room.

The great thing about the Cromatic collection is that it takes up so little space but can be used for a wide variety of activities. As seen in the video above, moving the pieces around is simple enough for kids to handle, and lets them dictate how their own rooms look and function.

Of course, we can imagine problems with kids sharing the same set of furniture in one bedroom. One will want to use the desk while the other, who inhabits the bed directly under the desk, will want to take a nap. Still, it’s hard to imagine a room cooler than these, even for kids who have to share with siblings.

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In most homes, a staircase is a mere utility to get from one level of the building to another. This is all well and good, but isn’t there more that we could be doing with staircases?

Designer Moon Hoon thought so when designing The Panorama House in South Korea. The home on its own is a gorgeous modern piece of architectural art, but the central staircase is what really makes it stand out.

This is no typical up-and-down set of treads, you see. This staircase provides an additional living space for the family. It is transportation between levels, of course, but it is also a library, a cinema, a slide and a play/relaxation area.

The office area which sits beneath the staircase benefits from the ample book storage between the stairs. The rest of the family can grab the book they want to read from the other side of the staircase, as well.

When coming down from the upper level, kids and adults alike have the choice of walking down the stairs or using the massive slide. There is no question in our minds that if we were there, that slide would be in constant use.

But when playtime is over and family time is set to begin, the stairs also provide wonderful seating areas for everyone to sit back and relax. Movies are projected onto the rear wall, making the staircase into a kind of in-home stadium seating theater.

The family who owns the home wanted a compact space in which they could conduct their everyday lives without feeling too cramped. The multi-functional staircase fulfills that desire perfectly, squeezing the functionality of several rooms into the space of just one set of steps.

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