Gizmodo: home design

Hong Kong Architect Turns 344-Square-Foot Space into Ultimate Transformer Apartment

Elaine Chow — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 00:40:00 EST

Hong Kong architect and technophile Gary Chang has the most amazing apartment. His 344-square-foot space can be shifted into at least 24 different layouts, using a funhouse's worth of sliding walls and detachable shelving.

Chang has lived in this apartment since he was 14, moving in with his parents and three younger sisters. Back then, he used to sleep in the hallway. Now, he uses a hydraulic Murphy bed that he designed himself, which is usually hidden behind a sofa during the day.

Turning his apartment into what he's named a “Domestic Transformer” hasn't been cheap. It only cost $45,000 to buy, but his latest design efforts came with a $218,000 price tag.

Still, his experiment in small living is incredibly cool. Personally, if I had a quarter million to play with, I'd much rather spend it optimizing something creatively rather than on another boring McMansion. [NYtimes]

British Designer Makes Insane Looking Chairs Out of Hard-To-Recycle Trash

Elaine Chow — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 01:00:00 EDT

British designer Osian Batyka-Williams has gone on a recycling bent, turning unwanted, but hard to reuse objects into unique, if not particularly comfortable looking chair designs. For instance, his cutlery chair draws attention to the fact that some restaurants change their cutlery as often as every nine months, which is interesting, but all I can think about is how it'll put a fork in my butt when I try to spoon. Check out some of his other chair ideas. [Toxel]

Reusable components are salvaged from abandoned furniture and fittings, and then combined with a touch of FSC plywood to create unique hybrids.

The tube chair is made from stainless steel tubes sourced from reclaimation yards within 5 miles of [Batyka-Williams'] studio in London Bridge

The Line System Creates All Your Furniture With A Single Line

Elaine Chow — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 17:30:00 EDT

The Line is a funky furniture system that uses a single unbroken line of metal to create an entire home furniture set—including a lamp, a work table, a hanger, a bookshelf, a wine rack, a CD rack and a TV unit. Made by Aykut Erol, the system is supposed to “extend infinitely with a single line regenerating itself.” I'm not sure how much I want my home to look like it was created out of a giant Etch-a-Sketch, but the resulting pieces are kind of cool to peruse. [Yanko Design]