24

The interior fit out that renown Hong Kong architect Gary Chang designed is said to allow for 24 different rooms. He's a space ninja - the tiny Hong Kong apartment is created into a deluxe planning puzzle. Using a well-built sliding track system, the walls move to create different living areas such as the kitchen, bedroom, guest bedroom and bath. Although at first glance a bit gimmicky and heaven help you if any of these track systems happen to break, the constant rearranging of the one 3D volume is remarkable.

It may come down to a difference in living culture. No matter how much I try to imagine one of these in New Zealand, it would just seem like a joke. The Kiwi dream is the house with the garden (or beach for a backyard) and all the rooms spread out like an open book. To live in a rubix cube doesn't seem to fit in the ideology. The small apartments that spawn by the hands of developers in the CBD are a constant press for space - none of this innovation occurs. Spaces are arranged as if they were a Kiwi villa but in too little room resulting in shoulder width corridors and awkward cupboard rooms.

Hong Kong and similarly space deprived countries such as Japan, dream up the best that one can provide. Layering of space, compact living and indeed technologies such as the one used by Chang contribute to the modern lifestyle in limited space. It is yet another form of affluenza but I would say it was better thought out for future use.