[design-of-homes]

"Like living in a prison cell or some kind of distopian sci-fi novel."

I also find such small dwellings unpleasant. Small flats can be well designed, but these apartments take things too far.

The designers have recognised two features to amplify the sense of space: the double-height space and the large windows to flood the flats with natural light.

In fact, one aspect of more modern apartment design which is instantly recognisable no matter which country you live in: the long, narrow rectangular shape of apartments which allow more flats to be crammed into a plot of land. Compare these two identical studio apartments.

https://imgur.com/FyhYi0j

I'd be interested to hear opinions from anyone who prefers the studio apartment with windows at the narrow end (and why).

As an aside, it's interesting that you mentioned these apartments as something that might come from an "dystopian sci-fi novel". In J.G. Ballard’s science fiction novel,"Billenium" the population of the earth reaches 20 billion and 95% of the population resides in cities. Residential floor area per person is limited to 4m2.

In 2010, that inspired Waseda university in Japan to run a competition with the premise: could you live with another person in a home that measured just 15 square metres? The original competition website is long gone, but luckily, archive.org has a copy of the winning entries:

http://web.archive.org/web/20110630063557/http://www.all-was...

[SECProto]

> I'd be interested to hear opinions from anyone who prefers the studio apartment with windows at the narrow end (and why).

I've lived in both shapes (technically, they were 1 bedrooms, but had the same difference in layout). I much preferred the one with windows at the narrow end. It allowed me to actually use the walls for stuff - couch against one wall, TV opposite without having massive glare and my back to the window. Still allowed lots of natural light in.

The one advantage of the long layout was it allowed better airflow from a window at one end to a window at the other. But it also allowed way too much sunlight in during the summer, meaning that ventilation was less effective at cooling the space.

[njepa]

> I'd be interested to hear opinions from anyone who prefers the studio apartment with windows at the narrow end (and why).

I am not sure about "prefers", but both glare and heat can be a problem. To a large extent it is trying to "polish a turd". In small spaces a little extra space, a single wall or other improvements make a huge difference.

I lived in shared accommodations, barracks, dorm rooms, serviced apartments and whatnot. The equation mostly doesn't change. You need like five square meters for every "feature".

[Slippery_John]

I prefer the windows at the narrow end. Gives me more useable wall space. In fact my current apartment is much like your image (though with a bedroom on the side) and my previous was more like one with windows on the long side.

I've got a lot of books and board games that I keep in shelves, and so the much increased wall space allows me to place them more comfortably. I'm not interfering with light sources and I can secure the shelves to the wall so they don't fall down if my dog runs into them. It also makes it easier to keep the place cool in the summer since there's far less surface area to worry about.

[alistairSH]

My son lives in a "junior suite" - basically a classic end-windowed studio, but with a wall blocking the bed from the living area. Worst of both worlds.