MIT has managed to fit a bed, dining room table, kitchen surface, cooking range, closet, and multipurpose storage comfortably inside a 200-square-foot apartment, with room to spare. So, how did they do it?

A research group involved in the MIT Media Lab’s Changing Places project has developed a house-in-a-box device called CityHome, which they claim can stretch the space in a tiny apartment to make it feel three times as big.

CityHome is essentially a mechanical box, about the size of a closet, with customisable compartments that respond to gestures, touch, and voice.

Internal motors respond to simple commands by fluidly ejecting individual compartments from the central structure.

In a matter of seconds, a table and kitchen can appear to transform the apartment for a dinner party.

Following dinner, the pop-up dining room can be efficiently packed away and a hide-away bed summoned from the compartment underneath.

The entire module can also move a few feet each way, extending or compressing a room at will to reveal or conceal a bathroom.

The project’s lead researcher Kent Larson informed Co.Design that the CityHome is more than just a concept and that he plans on bringing it onto the market as soon as possible.

MIT Breakthrough Makes Tiny Apartments Feel Three Times Bigger

MIT Breakthrough Makes Tiny Apartments Feel Three Times Bigger

Watch how CityHome is used to transform an apartment in the video below.

Courtesy Co.Design

Architecture & Design Team

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