Life in 350 sf with our family of four
The average person in the US has 1,000 sf of living space. Our family spent the last few weeks living with just 88 sf each.
Before you ask if we went camping or sailing, it’s worth pointing out that we were staying in an apartment in NYC.
But this wasn’t any apartment, this was Graham Hills’ LE2.
Life Edited
Last year, Graham Hill unveiled a 350sf apartment that uses some very clever tricks to offer 2x or even 3x the space. If this sounds familiar, he’s already proved that he can do this with a previous, but slightly larger apartment.
Why bother? First, its awesome to have whole pieces of furniture appear and disappear. But there are some practical matter. Each square foot you buy has additional cost to furnish and maintain. And it’s not just the $$$ cost, our energy use goes up with sf too.
So why not focus on doing much, much more with the sf you buy?
Graham provides lots of detail on the LE2 design. There are loads of details and it’s easy to see how the transformations work. But Andrea and I kept discussing — how would it actually work with an adult and three kids aged 11, 8 and 43?
Transforming Furniture
The apartment began to transform by itself. At least, that’s how how it felt because Max (11) and Oli (8) quickly figured out how to create the
- Dining Room
- Gaming Room (really just the Dining configuration with laptops and headsets)
- Bedrooms (yes, really that “s” is no mistake, there are two of them)
But one specific challenge quickly emerged. Being close together made everything louder! We’ve used to being in a different rooms, which are far enough away to significantly reduce noise. But we soon found a solution.
Silence is golden
Graham spent a lot of time on acoustics. Filzfelt for dividers and wall coverings, meant small configuration changes quickly reduced noise from the kids.
But we’ve also become used to something else. My travel and frequent work in public spaces (where I’m writing this, for example) means we’ve learned to love headphones. It’s not just me. Max and Oli use headphones for gaming and Andrea uses a BOSE headset when she’s working or reading.
It’s an odd adaptation, but headsets and thoughtful acoustic design went a long way to making the space feel bigger.
Sign us up
LE2 delivers on the promise of 2x or even 3x effective living space. When we asked the kids about their favorite thing in NYC? “The apartment” won hands down.
