Tiny apartment converted from concrete pipe looks surprisingly nice

Hong Kong is notorious for its tiny, densely packed dwellings and housing shortage. But local architect James Law has designed an unusual solution to create temporary apartments in the narrow spaces between buildings: Converted old water pipes.

Called the OPod, Law’s design is a modern apartment installed within a standard section of concrete pipe, essentially a sleeker version of Austria’s sewer pipe hotel. Each pod includes such amenities as a bench that converts into a bed, open shelf storage, a mini fridge, microwave, bathroom, and shower.

The pods are meant to take advantage of awkward urban space and can be stacked in alleyways and atop buildings. Because they’re so heavy—each apartment weighs almost 22 tons—they don’t require brackets or bolts to secure the pods together, keeping installation costs low, according to Law.

“Sometimes there’s some land left over between buildings which are rather narrow so it’s not easy to build a new building,” Law explained. “We could put some OPods in there and utilize that land.”

Here’s look inside courtesy of Quartz.

Via: Quartz, Phoenix TV