Small Zen family Hong Kong apartment - 45sqm/484sqft

Situated along the coast of Hong Kong, SmartZendo apartment was designed to bring Zen ideas into a small home. In redesigning the home, architect Patrick Lam converted a chaotic, awkward space into a mindful experience of modern living, using Zen’s focus to draw the scenery outside into the home. Creating an open living area allowed the addition of a raised floor, containing additional storage hidden by hatches, as well as a raisable coffee table embedded in the floor. This also allowed the relocation of the kitchen from an irregularly shaped room into the living area, and the addition of a series of timber panels that can divide the living space into a sleeping area. Smart hardware and appliances complete the home, reducing clutter and encouraging dual purpose use of furniture and cabinetry throughout.

#smallapartment #architecture #interiordesign

Project Name: Smart Zendo

Produced by New Mac Video Agency
Creator: Colin Chee
Director: Alan Leung
Camera: April Pang
Producer: Lindsay Barnard
Editor: Jessica Ruasol
Music:

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[treshapizon]

When he said, the world doesn't only lack on space but also imagination. I'd love to butt in "we lack money too".

[hulagaga]

I lived in HK for a few years and once lived in an apartment with the same under floor storage. It is just such a pain, a nightmare when it comes to cleaning. HK environment is super humid so the surfaces of each wall of the underfloor compartments gets moldy always!! The kind of closed storage space creates perfect warmth and humidity for molds to grow. When you clean you have to be on all fours to mop each of the moldy walls. It's back hurting! And just imagine the trouble to move the seat cushions and all the things aside just to open One compartment. Besides, dust fall in the grooves is difficult to clean too! If anyone think that kind of storage is a good idea, think again!!

[aaclovern]

Imagine spilling things into floor storage. I think hidden storage in the floor would work in bedroom but not in spaces that are actively used for eating/hanging around.

[lt]

I really wish I could adore this design, lots of creativity and effort in solving the storage problem. But it seems painful to keep these storages clean with all the dust, mold, liquid, insects...that will fall down there. Plus I'm not sure how long the floor can last considering they're literal closet doors that 3-4 people step on everyday. The house also is too white, it doesn't feel home-like anymore. The maid room is :( another sad subject.

[SnwButterfly]

Viewers: We'd like to see small spaces for lower income families that are actually practical and somewhat achievable for us, please!

NTS: Here's a space that likely costs more than any of you will earn in a lifetime where the maid sleeps in the cupboard and we'll brush over it like it's fine. Also, here's a tote bag we're selling.

[agromchung]

Cool design but maybe try not to feature designs that promote inhumane living conditions for unskilled workers?

[MaxTerrazos]

The design of the dining table, with standard height chairs for older people like the grandmother and with bar stools for the young couple, is amazing.

[eheadsooo]

this is a lovely and efficient design but as the others pointed out in the comments section, the living condition of a live-in maid in HK baffles me. they have that much space for the master's bedroom but a miniature for a maid? wow. i hope that's a utility closet instead of a living quarters of a housekeeper.

[evildaemonlover]

How does that maid room even work? If she sleeps there, where does she sleep? On the odd shaped platform? On the kitchen floor?

[donna]

The maids room makes harry potter’s old room look luxurious

[j.b.]

Good to see the maintaining of the second/ third class citizen approach to live-in maids. Where do they sleep and relax? On a table over storage and below drying clothes. Brilliant and so human.

[inbareform]

The concept is great but the execution is lacking; things are hidden but the overall feeling is cluttered. This kind of concept usually requires clean lines and minimal seams.

[soujo]

The space feels more sterile than zen to me with the lack of contrasting textures and colours. Many comments about the cramped sleeping quarter for the maid. It’s a major social problem in Hong Kong where real estate prices are astronomical and families are often squeezed into tiny apartments, and maids are made to sleep in cupboard-like spaces. This is very common and this example is actually much better than most in that there’s a window and access to fresh air. Sad but true.

[beyourself]

This looks like the Coastal Skyline, a relatively new apartment complex in Tung Chung (a newly developed area), HK. The cost of such a unit should be around USD $2400/sqft, roughly 1.2-1.3 million USD for the 45 sqm/484 sqft apartment.

Just to give you an idea of HK housing price.

Absolutely gorgeous view, design, and video.

[benouverse]

The optimized storage is so overwhelming that it feels like just accumulating unnecessary items at this point!
The design is stunning, but it would give me a headache to live in! I like small spaces for their purer and more clutter-free aspects.

[waugse]

It breaks my heart that the maid is being denied a bed. She is human and she works hard, she deserves a soft bed to rest in after a long day. Why are people so cruel towards their staff? It really doesn't require that much money or effort to provide basic comfort like a bed to another human being. I used to live in the middle east and the maids there were being mistreated and abused too. One family proudly told me that they didn't beat their staff. While the family was living in great luxury, the maid was shoved in a mouldy room without paint and water dripping down from a leaking pipe on her mattress. She also only got ramen-noodles to eat, no fresh meat or vegetables, ever. I don't know how she could even survive on that diet. She had no days off, no weekends, and I recall many instances of the lady of the household calling her after midnight so she would serve her a bottle of water from the fridge that the lady was sitting next to anyway. The maid worked so hard and was so kind. She was not allowed to leave the house, ever, except when accompanying the family (not as a family member but so they could use her services as a nanny, servant etc wherever they went). I hope she got her passport back and was able to return home to her family eventually. So many never get to return.

[realmofthesenses]

Beautiful and efficient as it is, all I can think of is the maid. | Watching almost exactly a year later as it comes back in my feed, and reading the comments I now understand the maid's room may be just a utilities room for washing, ironing etc. However, it is stated that this kind of living space for the maid is usual in HK for domestic help from abroad, usually young women from the Philippines, Indonesia etc. By law they have to live with their employer. A local woman would possibly live elsewhere, in her own HK home. The living and working conditions of the maid are still the most intriguing aspect of this video. Esp. since thousands and thousands of foreign Asian girls are living in modern slavery conditions and situations.

[alcea]

very confused about the maid room/storage but overall i think i would love to live in house like this!
EDIT2ND: NTS has clarified that the maid dont live with the owners inside the apartment.

edit1st: i didnt expect my comment to gain much interactions but im very thankful for all the informative replies! it was really educational and mind boggling. its sad to know the living situations of maids in Hongkong and i hope it really gets better 😭😭

[danbeltechi]

NEVER too small? The maid would beg to differ.

(If she is required to stay overnight in the "maid's room/laundry, " her living conditions are inhumane; regardless of cultural differences.)

[TripleTuner]

Space efficiency isn't everything. This appartment will have so many running costs, since every motor can fail and with so many gaps everywhere it will get really dirty after a while. Energy efficiency is also important and with so much unnessacary features (someone in the comments said the table in the middle does not have to be electric for example), the running costs are high and it honestly feels a bit like a spaceship. Very clean and elegant solutions, but not very comfortable and cozy in my oppinion and that is the most important aspect of a living space I think.