Book Review: Living Big in Small Apartments

Living Big in Small Apartments, by James Grayson Trulove. (Amazon)



As can be expected with a book of this name, New York is the setting for these architectural solutions that economize on small spaces. Even though the eighteen projects presented have a variety of sizes, plans, and building types (lofts, new condos, renovations, etc), some design solutions span across them. One is transparent and translucent glass, which make rooms appear larger and their edges softer than solid walls. Second, sliding panels appear in many of the apartments, allowing for flexible arrangements and shifts in size and scale of rooms. Third, built in storage and walls that do double duty as storage are also common. For each project, a floor plan accompanies various interior images. This helps the reader understand the space and the creative means required to maximize it, though I would have liked to have seen at least one photograph of the apartments exterior to give it a context and also to see the influence of the different building types on the various solutions presented. Ultimately, none of these solutions in the book are cheap, though lessons can still be gleaned from its pages, even if the reader is of limited means.