Small Spaces In San Fran
By Never teh BrideIt’s fun to see how much house I can buy in other parts of the country with the $300,000 I spent on my own. Sometimes, I cringe knowing that I could have had a big ol’ farmhouse with a nice bit of land in middle America somewhere. Then there are other times when I have to laugh because my chunk of change buys a mere 250 to 350 square feet of living space!
The San Francisco Chronicle recently ran a piece about the apartments in The Cubix Yerba Buena building in SoMa. The Building is filled with “micro-units,” which are essentially tiny little studio apartments that are smaller than the finished half of my basement.
The floorplan makes it clear that there’s no room for a bed, so the units are staged with a sofa bed so prospective owners get a feel for what they’re buying into.
Architect George Hauser is the first to say the studios are too small for many people, families in particular. He and local planning groups, however, believe the so-called micro units represent one means of providing more first-time home-buying opportunities in a city where most prices outstrip most incomes.
I could see living in one of these if I was just out of college or single — I did, after all, living in a itty-bitty dorm room at school and occupy rented rooms for many a post-university year — and I do like that these micro-units force owners to decide what stuff is really important to them. I think, however, that I’d eventually be motivated to sell by feelings of claustrophobia.
August 29th, 2008 at 2:35 pm
I’d have to have 2-one for me and another for my clothes and shoes. They are really cute and would be perfect for anyone able to live with the bare minimum.