While the 1.8 million one- and two-person households in New York outnumber the city’s studios and one-bedrooms nearly two-to-one, Brooklyn-based architecture firm nArchitects, one of our Innovators in Design, proposed a bold new solution: My Micro NY, an apartment of 55 250- and 370-square-foot, prefabricated units. In January, Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced that they had won adAPT NYC, the competition he had launched last July in search of the right mini-dwelling for the city.

“Initially we were horrified at the idea,” nArchitects principal Mimi Hoang said of the competition, “but when we understood what was behind it — we have a shortage of 800,000 units — we’d come to realize that it was a very progressive thing to do. This is potentially a new housing model for the city.” She and co-founder Eric Bunge imbued My Micro NY with amenities that give the illusion of space: 10-foot-high ceilings, built-in overhead storage, and juliet balconies. Evocative of Moshe Safdie’s Habitat ’67, or Kisho Kurokawa’s Nakagin Capsule Tower, its construction method is just as unique as its size. To save both time and cost of construction, all 55 micro-units will be prefabricated off-site Brooklyn Navy Yard.  

ARTINFO paid a visit to the nArchitect’s studio, where, through models and renderings, Hoang gave us a tour of the city’s smallest new apartments.