Last Fall the New York City Mayor’s office constructed a
design competition encouraging developers to propose ways to turn a Manhattan
lot into an apartment building filled mostly with what officials are calling
"micro-units" – dwellings complete with a bathroom, built-in
kitchenette and enough space for a resident to use a fold-out bed as both
sleeping space and living room, housed in less than 350 square feet. When our client, a New York City
development company, approached our Residential Specialty Practice Group about
designing a micro apartment product in for the competition, Ben Wauford and
Chris Ernst eagerly accepted the challenge to design a “livable” space of less
than 330 square feet. Manhattan is the
U.S. capital of solo living, with 46.3 percent of households consisting of one
person, according to the 2010 census. City officials estimate that 76 percent
of residents on the island live alone or with one other person – and such
households are growing faster around the city than any other type of living
situation. Officials attribute the trend in part to young professionals
delaying both marriage and childbearing.
Demand exists.