Excerpt: Happy Box, a home interiors project by Tropical Space, rethinks the design of a studio apartment from a children’s perspective. The design features a wooden sculpture block placed in the centre of the flat, providing space for two beds, a workspace, a study area, and a cupboard. A 45-degree-angle cube was also built to activate flexible light and shadow areas, allowing uninterrupted activities.
Project Description
[Text as submitted by architect] Have you ever thought that if children asked for designing a studio apartment, what would be their specific requests?
They would love to turn the house into a full-time playground so that they can freely run or dance all around whenever they want. They would forget all about the convenient facilities every adult asks for and try to change functional spaces to playgrounds in order to do whatever they always want to. They might ask for as many opened windows as possible so they can look at little stars under the marvelous dark night sky. And all these things mentioned above have to fit in a 68m2 small apartment.
This is a freshly constructed apartment with an open floor plan and no dividing walls. To reduce building work, the designers maintained the status quo with little alteration. To take use of the maximum clearance height, the concrete ceiling layer also remains the same.
The designers installed a 3 meters wide, 3 meters long and 2.2meters high wooden sculpture block in the center of the flat, with purposes such as two beds, a workspace, a study area, a cupboard… space in the block connected vertically and horizontally, which allows activities to take place without interruption. Building a cube turned 45 degrees angle inside the apartment helps to activate flexible light and shadow areas more apparent.
It feels like the indoor space becomes comfortably large that allows sunlight to get in the place thoroughly. Glass bricks are used for toilet partitions in order to get more light inside. The areas of the warehouse, kitchen, and toilet are designed to be just-right size and served well-functionally. Besides, most furniture has storage cabinets so that the house requires less space with minimal arrangement and always feels neat and clean.
The area around the block is freed up for a variety of leisure activities, including play, sports, and anywhere that may be used to rest or read a book. The designers wanted the air masses in the tropics to be vented, not closed, and to have the chance to make the most of the natural energy available. More importantly, they wanted laughter and happiness to pervade all over the place inside the Happy Box.
Drawings & Before Images
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