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The BaeTas: Apartment in Sandy Bay

The BaeTas tests the limits of small space living and reinvigorates an outdated 70’s bedsit apartment.

Doing more with less

The BaeTas is an apartment for rent located in Sandy Bay, in the city of Hobart in Tasmania, Australia.

Already awarded for the beautiful renovation of The BarnTas house also in Hobart, the team of architects Alex Nielsen and Liz Walsh from Workbylizandalex studio continued their Airbnb adventure by transforming in 2018 an outdated tiny apartment from 1970s into an sleek yet functional micro-house for rent.

Designed with the “doing more with less” approach, the apartment spans an area of 26 m2 with only one room to accommodate two people. In order to be able to use every square millimeter, to bring in natural light, to rearrange the space and give an impression of a more spacious volume, the existing partitions were knocked down, the ceilings have been raised the height, and some shafts of light were added. The end result is a versatile and attractive interior. The walls and ceilings are covered with birch plywood panelling wrapping the space. Behind each of the wood-lined walls, there are a lot of storage options or rooms hidden, such as the bathroom, the kitchen, or even a fold-down double bed, and an open-plan lounge space. The slightly recessed kitchen, hidden behind a set of accordion-style panels, has plenty of deep storage and Barestone facades, creating the feeling of a cozy niche for cooking. Housed behind a thick door edged in gold, the elegant bathroom is tiled in a deep burgundy colour, and has a shower, vanity unit, and features brass fixtures and one perfect skylight gazing heavenward. These two “closed” rooms are invisible at first glance, and contain only the minimum necessary of items and equipment. Nestled on the third and top floor of the block, the apartment with its almost fully glazed facade offers a cracker view of the River Derwent. The outdoor terrace acts as a landing.

Despite its small size, The BaeTas’ redesign offers a unique immensely flexible and highly functional living space ideal for exploring Hobart.