Design Process - Blog 6 (Propose a common + a unique RM that will give you a unique insight into the problem/ solution)

There are different ways in organizing tiny homes. It is never enough or efficient to just reducing the amount of stuffs that you own in your space. There are definitely benefits for living small as you can increase energy efficiency and family bonds. 

Living small is the result of being organized and aware of what you own in your surroundings.

The 5 great ways to live in a small space are "Create a floorplan", "Hang stuff", "Slide it", "Multipurpose Furniture" and "Make outdoors your best friend".

The reason is very simple, these methods will only make your small living space significant if they are being followed well. It is never easy to organize but once you start it, it will definitely benefit your living environment and mental condition.

Design Process - Blog 5 (Culture & Creativity)

There are debates on whether small living spaces are the current trend or cultural movement. Nowadays, people live in small living spaces and it seems to be growing rapidly. Urban flats have been increasing to suit urban people's lifestyle. As a result, interactivity and sense of community have been lacking and thus becoming a great threat to the society development.

People think of living spaces as the only living room most of the times and do not consider them as a place for great interaction with people around them. Hence, as years go by, people tend to lack of communication and connection with others. All of these contribute to serious society distance. Technology may have help us to venture further but it does not make us connect closer in terms of psychological state in individuals. This can pose great problems in later years.

Hence, it is essential to make use of small living spaces to emphasize on the communication with neighbours. 

Design Process - Blog 4 (Case Study)

My group is relating to Hong Kong for our case study to our design problem.

Figure 4.0 Hong Kong's flats

Relating to the above image, it shows how the flats in Hong Kong are organised in a cramp and crowd environment. The reason of having high density development is due to increase of population and highly-priced of land in Hong Kong. 

In terms of 'density' and 'crowding', they give different meanings in this issue. 'Density' is often used as the physical limitation of space while 'crowding' is the actual psychological perception of space limitation. Therefore, these issues are becoming big problems to the Hong Kong citizens as they face inadequate income and forced social interaction with one another due to shared flats. Thus, causing stress and mental breakdown to the people. Below is an image of homes that are considered cages to many.

Figure 4.1 Homes consider as “Cages”

In this case, we are looking into solutions to solve the related issues. Firstly, they can improve building management and maintenance for a clean and safe living environment. Secondly, large lobby spaces can be implemented in new building designs to provide greater sense of openness. Lastly, escalators and express lifts can be built to let the people have more accessibility.

High population in Hong Kong results in most of the residents to live in higher-density housing thus, having smaller units. On the other hand, lower density housing has a more larger and spacious living space especially for higher-income households. 

In conclusion, having quality living space is important and essential to everyone as this is long term in our daily lives. Rather than complaining about small living space, essential measures like how to make use of small living space in a house provides a better solution for these issues. It is better to change the internal of the living space rather than the landscape of a building.

Design Process - Blog 3 (Bibliography)

These are the five resources that my group has gathered for our research. We find on what makes the living space to be shrinking in housing units over the decades.


2 Books: 

- Conran, Terence. Small Spaces. London, 2001 
- Tanqueray, Rebecca. Small Spaces: Making The Most Of The Space You Have. Singapore, 2003

Referring to these 2 books, we find out how small spaces in homes can be used efficiently. They mentioned on different aspects in homes that storage, furniture and space can be used to make a small living space looks as great as a large living space. 

For storage, they listed out on some solutions to address the following problems. Firstly, it is encouraged to install built-in cupboards or nooks if many storage compartments are needed whereas preferred to be hidden. Secondly, if there is less space in kitchen, a drying rack can be installed above the sink. Lastly, if more shelves are needed for storage or display, walls can be replaced with full-height shelf instead to divide the room space.

For furniture, they also listed out on some solutions to address the following problems. Firstly, wardrobes usually take up quite a lot of space in a small bedroom, hence, it is more beneficial to store clothing or essentials under bunk beds instead of having extra wardrobes. In addition, having see-through or mirrored furniture can create the illusion of more space, hence, also do not block light reflection or too much cast shadow to make the space feel small.

Lastly, for space, they also listed out on some solutions to address the following problems. If there is limited space along walkways, furniture or storage cabinets can be built against the walls. Secondly, if hinged door is taking too much space, sliding, folding or swing (pivoting) door can be used instead. Lastly, structural dividers or partition can be used instead of having walls from rooms to rooms.

1 Magazine:

- Singapore Home & Décor, June 2014, Stylish Living Made Easy, pg. 100, 10 Common Storage Problems (and how to solve it), Text Mavis Ang (Writer)

The magazine talks about 10 common storage problems that are faced in Singapore. They talked about small spaces can be made use of if finding the correct storage solutions for the problems faced by the people. Some of these examples include storage underneaths, walk-in wardrobe and shelves that can take up less space.


2 Websites:

- https://singapore2025.wordpress.com/2011/11/26/smaller-hdb-flats-10-years-on-think-small-and-put-the-buzz-into-singapore/
- http://www.teoalida.com/singapore/hdbflatsizes/

 We came upon the two websites as listed above that show evidences on why this is so. They mainly talk about how the household size are affected over the decades and people living in Singapore are complaining about it.

Figure 3.0 Household size versus Flat size and Living space per person

From the table above, we can see that the average household size decreases from 4.6 to 3.4, from period 1980s to 2000s. However, it states that the living space per person increases for 3-room and 4-room flat type. This shows that the amount of people living in a household decreases where a family may contain lesser family members as compared to the past, 1980s. On the other hand, the living space for an individual increases as a result.