Micro-apartment in Berlin-Moabit is a project designed in 2015 by Spamroom + Johnpaulcoss. The design brief for this Berlin fat renovation, in the district of Moabit, not only included the challenge of sensitively updating an Altbau (early 1900’s), but included the added element of its charming small size – measuring just 21sqm.

Like many buildings of its era, the original layout of the fat had been two very small but separate rooms, presumably one of them being a kitchen, with a shared toilet located in an outbuilding downstairs. In an effort to modernise the fat a previous owner had substituted the former kitchen with a more convenient private bathroom. This had the added effect of unbalancing the overall proportions of living/sleeping/cooking/washing space in the fat.
The challenge with tacking this now disproportionate plan was to re-calculate the needs of a modern day occupant and to somehow re-distribute the space within the structural outer walls of the fat in a way that felt balanced and in doing so to maximise the potential of every available cm.

A blank canvas was the only solution so all interior walls were removed as well as the many remaining surface layers of previous years.

For the clients, the newly renovated fat would ideally include a comfortably proportioned living/sleeping area, a small, but fully equipped kitchen with plenty of storage and modern conveniences, a compact bathroom complete with luxury rain...