This “4-Room,” 450-Square-Foot Apartment Puts Yours To Shame

At 450-square-feet, Eric Schneider's apartment is significantly larger than the last, 70-square-footer that we introduced you to, but it makes just as much use of its minimal space. In fact, Schneider is so innovative with his apartment design (thanks to Normal Projects, MKCA Michael Chen Architecture) that he's able to squeeze four different "rooms" out of his space just with one (seemingly) simple build-in. There's the "bedroom" that finds itself in the murphy fold-down bed, the "office/library," that's available when the desk's folded out of the custom-built unit, the "living room" that doubles as a guest bedroom, and of course, the kitchen, which is potentially more sleek and well-stocked than ours. And, with perforated bedside walls that allow air circulation, secret outlets embedded everywhere, and foldable latches hiding mini-bars, this design is more than just "functional," — it's genius. At the end of the nine-minute tour of his house, Eric shows some other designs he's built in NYC apartments. We're not so sure we could live happily in such tight quarters, but if ever we did (and maybe even if we didn't), Michael Chen Architecture is our go-to to trick it out.