There are already 240 million single adults in China, and the number of people living alone is expected to rise to 92 million by 2021. In Shanghai, the figure is close to 3 million.
This gradually expanding living alone population created a new market. Take-away apps, dating apps, pets...Services for single person are popping up all over the place, but the market is lagging far behind the times in terms of housing typology development. Most of the single apartment is more like an enlarged version of a dormitory than a customized design for adults.
How to target emerging market, and design a distinctive, high-quality single apartment is what we want to explore in CK Home.
The original apartment has 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms, with all rooms organized by a dark central dining room.
This imperfect layout, originally designed for a family of three, could not be adapted to the needs of a single adults, so the team adjust the floor plan to meet the client's requirement.
Since single owner only needed one bedroom, the team removed a portion of the master bedroom's wall, and turned the room into an open/close multi-functional room (storage, bedroom, reading area). By doing these, the apartment becomes more spacious, the central dining area also get more light.
Besides, since two full bathrooms are redundant for a single man, the design reduces the bathroom area and expands the kitchen space. A spacious and fully functional kitchen not only improve the cooking experience, but also provides a platform for home cooking parties.
In interior design, we set aside the concept of soft/hard furnishings and designed the furniture as part of the space system. The custom-made hanging cabinets and sofas that wandered along the walls were clean and efficient. The lighting is small and simple, so as not to disturb the sight. The pursuit of systematic design is also reflected in the relationship between different furniture. The long tables, side tables, and chairs in the dining rooms all have hard contour lines to fit with each other.
Considering the client likes a clean and fresh living atmosphere, blue is used as main color to decorate the whole apartment. Since he likes Wing Chun (Chinese boxing), a floor-to-ceiling mirrored sliding doors are installed in the living room to facilitate the practice. This choice of mirrored material also brings some highlights to the quiet space.
Through CK Home, we hope to break the stereotype of living alone in mainstream society and provide a higher quality option for urban youth in China.
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