Never Too Small
- Title: Never Too Small
- Duration: 36 × 30’ HD
- Producer: Australia
- Year: 2020–2024
Growing populations and land scarcity is squeezing our cities, and worldwide people are turning to more affordable, and smaller homes. Never Too Small sits down with award winning designers & architects to break down their tiny homes, micro apartments, cabins and more. Revealing how future urban design and architecture will shape how we live, how we work and how we socialise.
Built upon an existing youtube series with more than 41 million views, Never Too Small explores the experimentation and self-expression on the path to perfecting design, travelling across the globe in search of the best small spaces.
Each episode explores a new theme, from preserving historic buildings, sustainability in rural areas, to life in the most densely populated cities in the world. Speaking to the architects themselves as they transform small spaces into homes.
Designed well, no space is ever too small.
Episodes
Episode 1:
Logline:
Architects and designers around Australia reuse existing builds to create efficient and clever clever micro-apartments.
Synopsis:
As cities demand more and more housing, architects turn to existing buildings to create new homes. Aiming to sustainably re-use by converting tiny spaces into cleverly designed micro-homes.
In Melbourne, Nicholas Aguis redesigns a tiny 24 square metre. art deco apartment to become a home fit for a couple, building innovative inserts that don’t disrupt the home's original makeup. Elsewhere, designer Jack Chen radically reconfigured his own home so he could keep a home office, designing multi-purpose joinery that serves as both dividing walls and furniture. Across the pond, Auckland designer Karin Montgomery, transformed the space above a garage into a bright apartment for two within just 36 square metres, using purpose built dividers to maintain privacy without disrupting the home's functionality.
Episode 2:
Logline:
As cities grow denser, our homes need to grow as we do and shrink as we age, these purposeful designs are ready for our different stages of life.
Synopsis:
Designing focused and purposeful homes as our cities grow, ensures that we make the best possible use of our space. These homes grow as we do, and shrink as we age, accounting for every stage of life and open up the use of a variety of apartments and units that are too small for some parts of life.
Looking to better fit a space to his life, Nelson Chow, redesigned his Hong Kong apartment as a split level treehouse, drastically increasing the home’s usable space. In sharp contrast Jean Graham has fit a family of four into a home only 10 square meters larger. Managing to allow every family member a sense of privacy without disrupting the flow of light. Leaving their rural acreage for a small city home, a couple approached Nicholas Gurney to design a small space that favoured accessibility and function above all. Resulting in a home that can age with them without sacrificing opportunities for privacy and solitude.
Episode 3:
Logline:
Where others see an impossibly tiny apartment, these architects see an opportunity for a flexibly designed home smaller than the average living room.
Synopsis:
These homes occupy less than 30 square meters, barely larger than the average Australian living room. But each of these architects have seen an opportunity, to take a distinct approach to each space, transforming cramped, segregated rooms into the beginnings of an adaptable home.
In a collection of Art Deco apartments, Michael Roper, used compact furniture and creatively altered storage spaces to redesign a 23 square meter home into a flexible single room. Sydney architect, Brad Swartz, has revitalised a poorly designed apartment by creating a long living and dining zone, and a screened sleeping alcove, all oriented around the home's view. Melbourne architect Tim Yee, found a use for an tiny, unremarkable unit as a luxurious hotel-home hybrid.
Episode 4:
Logline:
A converted boat in London, and an apartment built into concrete pipe, this is how we build well designed homes in the world's busiest places.
Synopsis:
In the world's busiest cities, architects are exploring new ways of building in our unused spaces. Experimenting with design on the fringes, and building unique homes. Looking to create long term solutions for our cities that can carry into the future.
While living on the water is an age old idea for Londoners, 31/44 architects has taken it a step further. Building a high-end but practical apartment into a houseboat only a step away from inner city London. In Melbourne, Ben Edwards converted a dingy ground level studio into an elegant apartment, designed to showcase it’s materials and the selection of furniture inside. Looking to solve Hong Kong’s struggle with limited homes, James Law created a low cost, 19 square meter apartment constructed inside the city's spare concrete pipes. Designing to be stacked and easily relocated, he hopes to bring low cost housing to bridge the gap as Hong Kong grows.
Episode 5:
Logline:
Go off-grid without compromise, these micro-getaways incorporate high efficiency solar alongside tried and tested materials all in a small footprint.
Synopsis:
As protecting our vulnerable remote environments becomes more and more important, our homes away from home need to become more sustainable and low impact. Designed to fit their location and to be removed without leaving a mark, all while bringing us closer to nature.
Inspired by the tiny house movement, CABN designed Jude, a completely off-grid sustainable getaway completely removed from the city. With a minimal design that avoids clutter and invites the visitor to explore their natural surrounds.Inspired by the same minimalist ideals and it’s separation from the mainland, Maguire Devine created the Bruny Island Getaway. Designed with minimal furniture, and a Japanese aesthetic the cabin opens up to light and air on all sides, using it’s minimal nature to guide the visitor towards it’s majestic views. Along Victoria’s coastline, Ben Edwards looked for a different approach to the classic holiday home. Building a 44 square meter home from shipping containers that could be easily dropped into place on a hillside overlooking the ocean.
Episode 6:
Logline:
Australian apartment living has become synonymous with cramped, uncomfortable and cold. But what does the future of apartment and urban living really look like?
Synopsis:
With many apartments built in Australia primarily as investments and not as long term homes, some architects are looking to radically change the model for urban living. Deliberately designing blocks to foster community and improve quality of life, sacrificing the things once seen as essential for a home to sell as they ditch car parking and backyards.
Within Melbourne's inner city, Nightingale Housing aims to create sustainable low cost homes within range of the CBD. Their first project Nightingale 1 was designed exclusively for owners, not renters, and uses open spaces to encourage co-mingling with neighbours. On the city's southern side, a couple lovingly converted a small studio into a two bedroom apartment for their growing family. Even having moved on, they’re preserving the home for the next young couple looking for the same thing they were. And driven by a similar desire, Mostaghim and Associates designed UKO, Australians first purpose built co-living for young professionals, aiming to help it’s residents build a sense of community but maintain some of their own space.
Episode 7:
Logline:
As the needs of city residents change, commercial buildings are being transformed into modern homes, and the idea of adaptive re-use is taking hold.
Synopsis:
All around the world, people continue to flock to city centers for the added convenience of city life. In this dense cityscapes, finding alternative uses for empty buildings is becoming key to continued growth. Drawing on the idea of adaptive re-use to change the city as the needs of its residents change revitalising existing buildings and creating flexible small footprint homes in the center of our cities.
More than just a solution for one small apartment in Antwerp, SAM by Bao Living was designed as a modular system to turn any small space into a livable home. Embracing flexibility and allowing an almost unlimited number of ways to reconfigure it as the residents needs change. As Hong Kong faces an ever growing population and increasing property prices, PMDL found a potential solution in the reuse and redesign of one of the city’s older apartment blocks. Maintaining their character and refitting them to suit the needs of singles and professionals. In another example of a radical redesign, Melanie Schubert updated and renewed the interior of a Barbican apartment, redesigning the space so it seamlessly blended into the brutalist exterior.
Episode 8:
Logline:
These homes look beyond their floor space, building clever mezzanines and loft bedrooms to take advantage of height and open up the home.
Synopsis:
Looking to fill spaces of increasingly odd shapes and sizes, architects are building upwards. Incorporating multi-level designs into small homes,shifting bedrooms upwards and opening up the space below for other parts of life. Combatting urban density by artfully designing split level homes.
In London's East End, Nina Tolstrup took the opportunity to convert an older carpenter's shop into a multi level hideaway. Converting it into a home for many by constructing enclosed sleeping pods and filling the home with bursts of colour and upcycled furniture. In Amsterdam, Architects Heren 5, designed Loft Buikslotherham. Fully utilising the width of the space by building a bedroom loft around central storage for the home and using all of the apartments generous 3.5m high ceiling. In Sydney, two neighbours have come together to replace their car spaces with identical micro-homes, co-operating throughout the build and using the shared height of each home to build a fully functional house on just 35 square meters.
Episode 9:
Logline:
How can we make our small spaces work harder in less than 30 square meters? Designs that slide, fold and conceal, just as these tiny spaces do.
Synopsis:
Smaller than 30 square meters, the design of these homes represents a key part of creating affordable, central housing. Designing for such tiny spaces requires thinking outside the box, with architects drawing on minimalism and simplicity. Creating custom furniture and fittings to ensure every inch of a home is used to its fullest extent.
Situated along Amsterdam's Canal District, Studio Piet Boon's 15 square meter micro-condo incorporates a suite of these custom furnishings, concealing functionality wherever possible and accentuating it’s historic features. Nic Gurney’s Tara is compartmentalised even further, with a metal clad storage and living unit dominating the space and allowing all of the apartments functionality to be embedded in the walls. The same idea allowed Brad Swartz to completely open up an Elizabeth Bay apartment, revitalising the space with the free flow of light and air, adding touches of luxury and sweeping the resident out towards it’s bay views.
Episode 10:
Logline:
A luxurious experience in a small footprint, these sustainable homes away from home are the future of our holidays.
Synopsis:
Sustainable holiday homes bring low impact accommodation to our cities and rural areas. Occupying less valuable space for residents and offering a unique experience for visitors no matter where they are. These designs present an alternative use for spaces that would otherwise go underused, and add another source of income for those with some extra room, or where conventional building is impossible.
Looking to provide a solution to that same problem for farmers, Jan Van Schiak designed Shacky. A removable tiny home that aims to bring visitors into regional communities with it’s sustainable, intimate design, while supporting local farmers. A formerly underused apartment, Nanopad was designed to be both an occasional city residence for its owners and unique accommodation for guests. The 22 square meter space was opened up by floating and compartmentalised storage, allowing the addition of a kitchen and better showcasing it’s iconic art deco detailing. Confronting a similarly underutilized space, Cameron Neil redesigned a leftover corner apartment to become an idyllic city getaway, creating a hybrid kitchen, bedroom, bathroom pod that conceals the home's copious amenities.
Episode 11:
Logline:
Tailored to their owners from the ground up, these homes are where purpose led design meets small footprint architecture.
Synopsis:
Where some view small spaces as restrictive, these architects and designers saw the opportunity to create homes perfectly tailored to the needs of their owners. Designing them from the ground up inside existing building stock, and reflecting on the parts of the owners lifestyle that can be met outside the home so the design can focus on what’s really required in the home.
Inspired by the Japanese 5S organisational method, architect Nicholas Gurney created a streamlined, minimalist 24 square meter home. 5S is neatly divided by moving screens, with hidden storage throughout, including for it’s cooktop and dining table. The result is a purposeful, minimal home, tailored to perfectly match the owners without detracting from it’s outdoor view. In Melbourne, Douglas Wan demolished his 28 square meter apartment, creating a series of small but connected spaces in the empty shell. And allowing smooth transitions between living, dining and office. The Warren, a 49 square meter apartment in Sydney, designed by Nicholas Gurney, doubles as both home and art studio. Rebuilt from the ground up to allow a reflective pod to be added at the home’s center, the space is calm and airy. With amenities concealed behind the central pod, and a converting art space/second bedroom tucked away inside.
Episode 12:
Logline:
Purpose led, small footprint design has found its way into this large apartment, a granny flat and a holiday home.
Synopsis:
Sharing their design principles with smaller footprint homes, these larger spaces have been designed to more efficiently disperse heat and cold, as well as finding the best use for every additional square meter. In tailoring these homes to their owners and more efficiently using the space, their architects are designing more sustainably and opening up more functionality in these otherwise simple homes.
Looking to make better use of the average Australian backyard, Nicholas Gurney designed Yardstix. Drawing from the classic Australian granny flat, each Yardstix is a green, economic, self-contained living space, with every element designed for function above all. This functional, flexible design carries into Rob Ashby’s Point Lonsdale studio, where the home is designed to provide accomodation for more guests or even a permanent space for a longer stay. A durable, hard-wearing addition, the space welcomes coastal breezes while capturing warmth in winter. Despite it’s larger than average footprint at 50 square meters, Daniel Dorralls apartment incorporates unique additions drawn from small footprint design. With recessed shelving that created additional usable space, and deliberately grouped compositions lending a sense of balance, the home has a carefully crafted sense of continuity throughout.
Episode 1:
Logline:
Architects and designers around Australia reuse existing builds to create efficient and clever clever micro-apartments.
Synopsis:
As cities demand more and more housing, architects turn to existing buildings to create new homes. Aiming to sustainably re-use by converting tiny spaces into cleverly designed micro-homes.
In Melbourne, Nicholas Aguis redesigns a tiny 24 square metre. art deco apartment to become a home fit for a couple, building innovative inserts that don’t disrupt the home's original makeup. Elsewhere, designer Jack Chen radically reconfigured his own home so he could keep a home office, designing multi-purpose joinery that serves as both dividing walls and furniture. Across the pond, Auckland designer Karin Montgomery, transformed the space above a garage into a bright apartment for two within just 36 square metres, using purpose built dividers to maintain privacy without disrupting the home's functionality.
Episode 2:
Logline:
As cities grow denser, our homes need to grow as we do and shrink as we age, these purposeful designs are ready for our different stages of life.
Synopsis:
Designing focused and purposeful homes as our cities grow, ensures that we make the best possible use of our space. These homes grow as we do, and shrink as we age, accounting for every stage of life and open up the use of a variety of apartments and units that are too small for some parts of life.
Looking to better fit a space to his life, Nelson Chow, redesigned his Hong Kong apartment as a split level treehouse, drastically increasing the home’s usable space. In sharp contrast Jean Graham has fit a family of four into a home only 10 square meters larger. Managing to allow every family member a sense of privacy without disrupting the flow of light. Leaving their rural acreage for a small city home, a couple approached Nicholas Gurney to design a small space that favoured accessibility and function above all. Resulting in a home that can age with them without sacrificing opportunities for privacy and solitude.
Episode 3:
Logline:
Where others see an impossibly tiny apartment, these architects see an opportunity for a flexibly designed home smaller than the average living room.
Synopsis:
These homes occupy less than 30 square meters, barely larger than the average Australian living room. But each of these architects have seen an opportunity, to take a distinct approach to each space, transforming cramped, segregated rooms into the beginnings of an adaptable home.
In a collection of Art Deco apartments, Michael Roper, used compact furniture and creatively altered storage spaces to redesign a 23 square meter home into a flexible single room. Sydney architect, Brad Swartz, has revitalised a poorly designed apartment by creating a long living and dining zone, and a screened sleeping alcove, all oriented around the home's view. Melbourne architect Tim Yee, found a use for an tiny, unremarkable unit as a luxurious hotel-home hybrid.
Episode 4:
Logline:
A converted boat in London, and an apartment built into concrete pipe, this is how we build well designed homes in the world's busiest places.
Synopsis:
In the world's busiest cities, architects are exploring new ways of building in our unused spaces. Experimenting with design on the fringes, and building unique homes. Looking to create long term solutions for our cities that can carry into the future.
While living on the water is an age old idea for Londoners, 31/44 architects has taken it a step further. Building a high-end but practical apartment into a houseboat only a step away from inner city London. In Melbourne, Ben Edwards converted a dingy ground level studio into an elegant apartment, designed to showcase it’s materials and the selection of furniture inside. Looking to solve Hong Kong’s struggle with limited homes, James Law created a low cost, 19 square meter apartment constructed inside the city's spare concrete pipes. Designing to be stacked and easily relocated, he hopes to bring low cost housing to bridge the gap as Hong Kong grows.
Episode 5:
Logline:
Go off-grid without compromise, these micro-getaways incorporate high efficiency solar alongside tried and tested materials all in a small footprint.
Synopsis:
As protecting our vulnerable remote environments becomes more and more important, our homes away from home need to become more sustainable and low impact. Designed to fit their location and to be removed without leaving a mark, all while bringing us closer to nature.
Inspired by the tiny house movement, CABN designed Jude, a completely off-grid sustainable getaway completely removed from the city. With a minimal design that avoids clutter and invites the visitor to explore their natural surrounds.Inspired by the same minimalist ideals and it’s separation from the mainland, Maguire Devine created the Bruny Island Getaway. Designed with minimal furniture, and a Japanese aesthetic the cabin opens up to light and air on all sides, using it’s minimal nature to guide the visitor towards it’s majestic views. Along Victoria’s coastline, Ben Edwards looked for a different approach to the classic holiday home. Building a 44 square meter home from shipping containers that could be easily dropped into place on a hillside overlooking the ocean.
Episode 6:
Logline:
Australian apartment living has become synonymous with cramped, uncomfortable and cold. But what does the future of apartment and urban living really look like?
Synopsis:
With many apartments built in Australia primarily as investments and not as long term homes, some architects are looking to radically change the model for urban living. Deliberately designing blocks to foster community and improve quality of life, sacrificing the things once seen as essential for a home to sell as they ditch car parking and backyards.
Within Melbourne's inner city, Nightingale Housing aims to create sustainable low cost homes within range of the CBD. Their first project Nightingale 1 was designed exclusively for owners, not renters, and uses open spaces to encourage co-mingling with neighbours. On the city's southern side, a couple lovingly converted a small studio into a two bedroom apartment for their growing family. Even having moved on, they’re preserving the home for the next young couple looking for the same thing they were. And driven by a similar desire, Mostaghim and Associates designed UKO, Australians first purpose built co-living for young professionals, aiming to help it’s residents build a sense of community but maintain some of their own space.
Episode 7:
Logline:
As the needs of city residents change, commercial buildings are being transformed into modern homes, and the idea of adaptive re-use is taking hold.
Synopsis:
All around the world, people continue to flock to city centers for the added convenience of city life. In this dense cityscapes, finding alternative uses for empty buildings is becoming key to continued growth. Drawing on the idea of adaptive re-use to change the city as the needs of its residents change revitalising existing buildings and creating flexible small footprint homes in the center of our cities.
More than just a solution for one small apartment in Antwerp, SAM by Bao Living was designed as a modular system to turn any small space into a livable home. Embracing flexibility and allowing an almost unlimited number of ways to reconfigure it as the residents needs change. As Hong Kong faces an ever growing population and increasing property prices, PMDL found a potential solution in the reuse and redesign of one of the city’s older apartment blocks. Maintaining their character and refitting them to suit the needs of singles and professionals. In another example of a radical redesign, Melanie Schubert updated and renewed the interior of a Barbican apartment, redesigning the space so it seamlessly blended into the brutalist exterior.
Episode 8:
Logline:
These homes look beyond their floor space, building clever mezzanines and loft bedrooms to take advantage of height and open up the home.
Synopsis:
Looking to fill spaces of increasingly odd shapes and sizes, architects are building upwards. Incorporating multi-level designs into small homes,shifting bedrooms upwards and opening up the space below for other parts of life. Combatting urban density by artfully designing split level homes.
In London's East End, Nina Tolstrup took the opportunity to convert an older carpenter's shop into a multi level hideaway. Converting it into a home for many by constructing enclosed sleeping pods and filling the home with bursts of colour and upcycled furniture. In Amsterdam, Architects Heren 5, designed Loft Buikslotherham. Fully utilising the width of the space by building a bedroom loft around central storage for the home and using all of the apartments generous 3.5m high ceiling. In Sydney, two neighbours have come together to replace their car spaces with identical micro-homes, co-operating throughout the build and using the shared height of each home to build a fully functional house on just 35 square meters.
Episode 9:
Logline:
How can we make our small spaces work harder in less than 30 square meters? Designs that slide, fold and conceal, just as these tiny spaces do.
Synopsis:
Smaller than 30 square meters, the design of these homes represents a key part of creating affordable, central housing. Designing for such tiny spaces requires thinking outside the box, with architects drawing on minimalism and simplicity. Creating custom furniture and fittings to ensure every inch of a home is used to its fullest extent.
Situated along Amsterdam's Canal District, Studio Piet Boon's 15 square meter micro-condo incorporates a suite of these custom furnishings, concealing functionality wherever possible and accentuating it’s historic features. Nic Gurney’s Tara is compartmentalised even further, with a metal clad storage and living unit dominating the space and allowing all of the apartments functionality to be embedded in the walls. The same idea allowed Brad Swartz to completely open up an Elizabeth Bay apartment, revitalising the space with the free flow of light and air, adding touches of luxury and sweeping the resident out towards it’s bay views.
Episode 10:
Logline:
A luxurious experience in a small footprint, these sustainable homes away from home are the future of our holidays.
Synopsis:
Sustainable holiday homes bring low impact accommodation to our cities and rural areas. Occupying less valuable space for residents and offering a unique experience for visitors no matter where they are. These designs present an alternative use for spaces that would otherwise go underused, and add another source of income for those with some extra room, or where conventional building is impossible.
Looking to provide a solution to that same problem for farmers, Jan Van Schiak designed Shacky. A removable tiny home that aims to bring visitors into regional communities with it’s sustainable, intimate design, while supporting local farmers. A formerly underused apartment, Nanopad was designed to be both an occasional city residence for its owners and unique accommodation for guests. The 22 square meter space was opened up by floating and compartmentalised storage, allowing the addition of a kitchen and better showcasing it’s iconic art deco detailing. Confronting a similarly underutilized space, Cameron Neil redesigned a leftover corner apartment to become an idyllic city getaway, creating a hybrid kitchen, bedroom, bathroom pod that conceals the home's copious amenities.
Episode 11:
Logline:
Tailored to their owners from the ground up, these homes are where purpose led design meets small footprint architecture.
Synopsis:
Where some view small spaces as restrictive, these architects and designers saw the opportunity to create homes perfectly tailored to the needs of their owners. Designing them from the ground up inside existing building stock, and reflecting on the parts of the owners lifestyle that can be met outside the home so the design can focus on what’s really required in the home.
Inspired by the Japanese 5S organisational method, architect Nicholas Gurney created a streamlined, minimalist 24 square meter home. 5S is neatly divided by moving screens, with hidden storage throughout, including for it’s cooktop and dining table. The result is a purposeful, minimal home, tailored to perfectly match the owners without detracting from it’s outdoor view. In Melbourne, Douglas Wan demolished his 28 square meter apartment, creating a series of small but connected spaces in the empty shell. And allowing smooth transitions between living, dining and office. The Warren, a 49 square meter apartment in Sydney, designed by Nicholas Gurney, doubles as both home and art studio. Rebuilt from the ground up to allow a reflective pod to be added at the home’s center, the space is calm and airy. With amenities concealed behind the central pod, and a converting art space/second bedroom tucked away inside.
Episode 12:
Logline:
Purpose led, small footprint design has found its way into this large apartment, a granny flat and a holiday home.
Synopsis:
Sharing their design principles with smaller footprint homes, these larger spaces have been designed to more efficiently disperse heat and cold, as well as finding the best use for every additional square meter. In tailoring these homes to their owners and more efficiently using the space, their architects are designing more sustainably and opening up more functionality in these otherwise simple homes.
Looking to make better use of the average Australian backyard, Nicholas Gurney designed Yardstix. Drawing from the classic Australian granny flat, each Yardstix is a green, economic, self-contained living space, with every element designed for function above all. This functional, flexible design carries into Rob Ashby’s Point Lonsdale studio, where the home is designed to provide accomodation for more guests or even a permanent space for a longer stay. A durable, hard-wearing addition, the space welcomes coastal breezes while capturing warmth in winter. Despite it’s larger than average footprint at 50 square meters, Daniel Dorralls apartment incorporates unique additions drawn from small footprint design. With recessed shelving that created additional usable space, and deliberately grouped compositions lending a sense of balance, the home has a carefully crafted sense of continuity throughout.