Offering a design-led solution for an awkward urban plot in Rawda, Kuwait, this boutique residential architecture project is the brainchild of Studio Madouh. The Kuwait and New York architecture studio was invited to work on the challenging – just 3m wide – plot and used it to create an experimental prototype for city living, a micro-apartment design occupying an otherwise unused piece of land inbetween existing structures.
The unit promotes an apartment interior design that is time and cost effective to build, explain the architecture team, and offers practical solutions to spatial but also financial issues that often affect city dwellers.
Micro-apartment is a prototype for urban living
Named Duplex AO (DAO), the scheme presents an example of how the concept might work, set here on the side of an existing residential building – running across one side of the plot, where an old storage structure used to be. The idea is that this duplex apartment can be multiplied and adapted or scaled up to fit various different sites.
‘Despite the difficult dimensions, law restrictions, and low economical resources, DAO has successfully triggered unexpected spatial values that provoke rather new forms of sustainable micro-living,’ say the architects. This is combined with ‘economically viable and energy-efficient green solutions that helped raise awareness in the region regarding critical environmental matters’, they add.
The micro-apartment features an entrance hall that leads to a reception, a kitchen, and a gym (which may also be used as a second bedroom or a study). Located upstairs is the master bedroom and the bathroom. Stepping out from the bedroom into the generous balcony, residents can enjoy the outdoors in a private, sheltered setting, carved out by the apartment’s dramatic, angled facade – a feature that defines the prototype micro-apartment’s volume and highlights the dynamic nature of the overall concept. §
