The micro-living trend is coming to Tel Aviv - compact apartments with customized design and unique furniture
ME CREO project.
Design: "Urban Platform" Architects
Photo:
Imaging: 3Dvision
Produced by the Department of Special Supplements
The world is changing.
It is becoming denser and more expensive, so solutions need to be found that will allow for housing in a slightly different way.
One of the solutions is called micro living (or by its synonyms: miniliving, compact living, tiny houses).
The trend has in recent years conquered the centers of the major cities in the world, including Tokyo, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Paris and Manhattan.
One of the architects who created buzz in the micro-living world is Gary Cheng, who in 2012 designed his private apartment in Hong Kong.
The concept of the apartment is unusual: instead of the tenant moving from room to room, the walls move and create a variety of spaces.
Behind the wall of the TV is the kitchen, and if you move the library you find the washing machine.
The micro-apartments are relatively small compared to what is customary in the area.
They are designed by expert architects and designers, who with the help of compact design, architectural carpentry adapted to the space and smart furniture solutions, create a large space perception beyond their actual area.
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In Israel, micro-living is still in its infancy.
Usually, families buy a small apartment in Tel Aviv and want to design it to suit the whole family.
"Recently we designed an 87 sqm apartment for a family of 5 on Rothschild Street," notes architect Roni Avitsur, one of the owners of Studio XS (Extra Small). "In this apartment we took a 14 sqm space and turned it into two children's rooms, using dynamic carpentry and height use. , Which doubled the space.
"Another example is a unique apartment of a couple who chose to move from a huge villa in Caesarea to a 45-square-meter apartment in a luxury building in Ramat Gan.
The apartment, whose shape was particularly challenging, would have been very unpleasant to live in if it had been designed with the traditional tools and paradigm of the rooms.
By designing precise furniture along the perimeter of the apartment, we created a variety of storage solutions for the couple, without compromising the sense of well-being and the perception of the size of the space. "
In the last decade, there has been a fundamental change in the taste of the consumer and in the lifestyle he leads in the major cities in the world.
People are becoming more aware of their lifestyle: the environment close to home and what it has to offer, a sustainable life and reduced consumption.
At the same time, there were changes in the family unit.
The urban environment has become crowded, living standards have risen and tenants' preferences have changed: less hoarding, more delivery and sharing alongside a growing awareness of well-being.
The increase in life expectancy and the change in the family unit has led entrepreneurs to think of a variety of housing solutions tailored to different tenants.
The existing solutions in the world focus mainly on life in the city, where the density and cost of living are felt.
At certain stages the proximity to the city center becomes a real need, but real estate prices make it difficult to move housing there. The micro-apartments offer a solution to the problem.
Think differently
Avitsur believes it is time to change the basic terms we grew up on.
"There is no longer a 2 or 3 room apartment. The term room limits us when the space is small. It is best not to think in terms of bedroom terminology, but a place to sleep in. There is no study, there is room to work in. The idea is smart and functional design. For example, one element in the apartment "It can be used as a pantry, a place to work and store. The island in the kitchen can be used as a cooking surface, a table for the family meal, one side of it for storage and on the other side you can put a TV facing the living room."
Another example is an apartment of a couple whose children left the nest and sold a spacious private house in the village and moved to a 50 sqm apartment in an old tower on a busy road in Ramat Gan, with the goal of living in a compact space that will allow them most unique activities in a vibrant urban area.
In the apartment designed by the studio, every inch was used. In the center of the apartment was placed a large island.
The guest services in the apartment were also treated differently.
Ofer Rossman, one of the owners of XS, notes that with the consent of the customers, the guest services were canceled, so as not to lose unnecessary space.
"We created a bathroom with two entrances, a kind of revolving doors with the possibility to enter the bathroom from two different places, thus giving it two functions. Once from the living room, for the guests in the house, and once from the bedroom, for the tenants."
Compact design
The first entrepreneurial company in Israel to take up the gauntlet and is currently marketing a project of compact, accurate and completely tailored apartments for the tenant, on the purity of micro-living, is Crasso Real Estate, which is building the ME CREO project at Ibn Gvirol 144-146 in Tel Aviv. , And in their place 2 new buildings will be built, which will include 50 units, of which 33 units for sale.
The project in Ibn Gvirol is an initiative of the architects Adar Sker and Yael Saga from the "urban platform", who recruited the apartment and shop owners, designed and submitted, together with a master plan that presented pleasures to the public, high density, along with development and definition of common areas.
According to the two architects, the apartment owners and the municipality participated at the beginning of the planning, while creating optimal planning for the city, the building's occupants and the future developer.
"Progressive urbanity is a multidisciplinary, socio-economic-economic term that drives planning processes whose products, when they are accurate, seem obvious, something that should have always been here," they say.
According to them, not only the planning was complicated, but also the process of finding the developer, who would be willing to take up the gauntlet and take on a project with a clear urban vision that is fundamentally different from the common paradigms.
Later, Kerso and the municipal platform were entrusted by Ofer Rossman and Roni Avitsur, owners of Studio XS, with the craft of interior design of the apartments, according to the principles of compact planning, carpentry planning and the selection of appropriate finishing materials.
Corona laws
Kerso Real Estate and the Architects' Office are not afraid that because of the Corona, Israeli apartment buyers will prefer large apartments. According to architect Ofer Rossman, "We have an idea in an office called Hukorona, which means that every unit must have a quiet place to work.
People were quick to draw lessons after the first closure, but there is a big question mark about those conclusions.
"For example, people today understand that the big house with the grass is not the solution. We see what the power of the crowded authorities is compared to the suburbs. In the city everything is under the house, I can order everything to my home quickly, and the space in the city also satisfies mental needs."
Roni Avitsur adds: "When you look at the apartments in their current format and are surprised that they are not designed properly, you must remember that no one expected 3 zoom classes to take place at the same time. Take the nursery for example. They study, host friends, play and sleep in the same space. "There's a huge suite they're just sleeping in. It's a wasted space."
An example of this can be seen in a 44-square-meter apartment that the office designed for a young couple. "In such a small apartment, every square meter is considered," Avitsur emphasizes.
"When the tenants said they do not cook often, we jumped at the chance and created a minimal surface. On the other hand, they said that when entertaining they like to cook and be part of the conversation that takes place in space. .
There is a lot of talk today about a green apartment.
Many private homes are built with photovoltaic roofs and energy-saving systems.
According to Avitsur, "Greener to live in the city according to your needs."
Are we seeing more and more apartments of this type?
If you ask the Tel Aviv Municipality, the answer is yes.
The municipality has already cut the parking standard and its outline plan encourages more apartments in a much smaller area.
The more expensive the land, the only way to live in the most central location in Israel is a small apartment, designed according to the needs of the tenant.
All Inclusive
How do you plan micro apartments in a new project?
The size of the apartments in the Ibn Gvirol project ranges from 42 to 82 square meters, and they are suitable for a variety of audiences. By overlapping spaces, giving up corridors, creating unique carpentry details adapted to each apartment type and packaged furniture (such as a folding dining table, or work area inside what Which looks like a closet), Kerso manages, according to the planners, to provide a perception of space and usability in the 42-square-meter apartments as if they were 70 square meters.
Apartment buyers can choose from several plans, and actually save the interior designer and carpentry work in the new apartment.
Kerso invested in the common areas and together with the "Urban Platform" architects' office created a private garden in the back of the building, a spacious, covered and open work space for the tenants, as well as a common laundry and ironing room.
Michal Glick, marketing director of Carasso Real Estate, notes that the project is very suitable for the urban and crowded lifestyle of Tel Aviv. It is also a pilot for the urban renewal policy on the street, including reducing parking quotas.
"Compact housing allows housing in central Tel Aviv for those who do not have the means to purchase the large apartments offered in renewal projects in the city, and for those who need a relatively small apartment in the city center and do not want to compromise on apartment quality."
According to her, giving up parking is much less dramatic than how the industry perceives it.
The project is within walking distance of all the centers in Tel Aviv - State Square, Rabin Square and the Hall of Culture.
The light rail station (the red line) is below it, the bus stations allow quick access to anywhere in Gush Dan and the Tel Aviv Central train station is a few minutes walk away.
"If there is one city in the country where you can live without a car and not compromise on mobility, it is Tel Aviv," says Glick.
The prices of the apartments in Carasso's project start at NIS 2.74 million for a 47-square-meter apartment, including all the unique carpentry work and a 6-square-meter balcony.
Please note that contrary to custom, the company prices the apartments according to their area without counting rooms.
According to Avitsur, "the discussion about a 4 or 5 room apartment is shallow in my eyes. It does not matter how many rooms there are in the apartment, but the functionality that is possible and the suitability for those who live in it. The standard division of rooms is not necessarily suitable for everyone. In Carasso Real Estate project. For the type of accommodation that the place allows, up to the level of the refrigerator and toilet paper dispenser.
The tenant or investor will not be required to add a shekel to get a perfect product. "
Produced by the Department of Special Supplements
