Life on 20 m²: The Asian nanobytes phenomenon is slowly conquering the world. Will it ever catch on in the Czech Republic?
Nanobytes began to appear in China and Japan in the late 1990s and early 2000s. These apartments were designed as a response to the extreme real estate prices and population density in their cities. In Hong Kong in particular, there has been a great deal of interest in nanos, especially among young, newly graduated people looking for affordable housing. It must be said, however, that in Japan the interest was due more to their novel design, saving space or money being there only in variable other places.
However, sales of these apartments have shown that despite their small size, space can be used efficiently and living comfortably is often really "just" a roof over your head and warmth. But there are limits to this, and we will get to that later.
One of the projects that caught the attention of the world public and started the lighter nano-housing mania was the "Domestic Transformer" from 2007. Its author, architect Gary Chang, who specializes in "hyper-efficient" housing, designed it in Hong Kong. This huge 344-square-meter apartment can transform into up to 24 different rooms, each offering less than 15 square meters of space.
For this project, Chang remodelled the same apartment he moved into with his parents and three sisters when he was 14. The space is located on the seventh floor of a 17-storey apartment building in Hong Kong's Sai Wan Ho district.
Chang bought this childhood flat in 1988 for $45,000 (over HK$1 million), deciding to knock down the walls and completely rebuild it. Since then, it has undergone at least four renovations, but it was the last one, which cost him about $218,000 (over 5 million crowns), that garnered worldwide attention.
The years that followed were quite fruitful for the nanobytes' vendors. This is shown by a large study from 2021, which focused on this type of housing in Hong Kong between 2010 and 2019 and produced, among other things, two interesting findings:
- Between 2010 and 2019, 8,550 nano-apartments were brought to market. In 2019, they accounted for 12.9% of all new flats sold in Hong Kong. That was a significant increase at the time.
- The average size of nano-apartments has dropped from 20 square metres in 2010 to 11 square metres in 2019, a figure quite unimaginable to the average European. Here, however, we must mention that the gradual reduction in the size of apartments is increasingly leading to questions about human dignity, even in Asia. After all, maximising money and space is fine, but at the end of the day, we are not robots who can easily be locked into a slow airtight room where we can barely turn around. Humans need their personal space too.
Nanobytes vs. the world
As part of innovations in micro-housing, various projects are being developed in the US and Europe that represent creative approaches to the use of limited space. For example, in New York there is the Carmel Place project by nArchitects, which was the first micro-apartment building in the city and set the standard for this kind of housing there. This project featured micro-apartments with high ceilings and large windows to maximize light and space, and offered diverse social spaces to enhance community life. Carmel Place was developed in response to a competition launched in 2012 by then-New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg to find new models of affordable housing for one- and two-person households.
Carmel Place occupies approximately 3,200 square feet and contains 55 apartments averaging 58 square feet in size. While this is considerably larger than the original 20 in the Asian version, Western civilization has a somewhat different idea of what constitutes a "small apartment".
In Europe, a well-known example is the somewhat more modest Urban Cabin project in Italy, where the well-known architect Francesca Perani transformed the veranda of an Italian villa into a 25 square meter apartment with ample storage space.
One of the most recent projects is the Uxolo Apartments, built in 2021 by Two Five Architects and located in Cape Town, South Africa. The 1,300 square metre building offers 35 units between 24 and 40 square metres with a communal lounge of just under 200 square metres.
Nanobyty vs. Czech Republic
In the Czech Republic, the concept of nano-apartments is not as widespread as in some Asian capitals, however, the interest in small-size apartments such as 1+kk and 2+kk is significant, especially in large cities such as Prague, Brno and Ostrava. The reasons for the popularity of these smaller apartments are affordability and the current lifestyle, which values efficiency and comfort, albeit in a smaller space.
Currently, "container" housing is much more popular in the Czech Republic, which gives you the opportunity to place your modest home anywhere on your own land, as opposed to static apartmentsPhoto: Adobe Stock
Although we do not completely label small apartments as nano or micro, each of us certainly has a minimal overview of the state of the supply of apartments and knows that it is easy to find offers for apartments of 20-30 square meters. However, these are mostly part of apartment buildings where the supply is diverse, i.e. it is not a comprehensive project where 50 apartments are stacked in one 4-storey building.
But what is interesting is that there is an increasing demand for so-called container modules, which provide the same minimalist comfort as a nano-apartment, but with the difference that you can place it on your own land wherever you want.
Whichever way you look at it, the trend for small flats is gradually catching on on all continents, and it won't be long before projects similar to those in Asia or America start popping up here too. This is because they are not only about saving space and money, but also about the sustainability of the space we live in. Developers and land owners (state or city) are increasingly addressing the question of how to fit as many people as possible into as little space as possible in a way that is still pleasant for all parties involved. And shrinking living space is one of those more palatable solutions. Although, as a society, we have to be careful where the line between economy and human dignity lies.
