Architect Gary Chang transformed his 330 square foot Hong Kong apartment into a shape-shifting space with 24 different configurations. Using sliding walls and convertible furniture, the “Domestic Transformer” demonstrates how technology and design can maximize small urban living spaces.
Apartment in Living Configuration
Photos © Gary Chang / Faircompanies
Kitchen and Workspace Revealed
Sliding Wall System
Multiple Room Functions
Compact Bathroom Integration
Video Tour: Domestic Transformer
Video © Faircompanies
Design Details
- Size: 330 square feet (approximately 32 square meters)
- Location: Hong Kong
- Designer: Gary Chang (architect)
- Nickname: Domestic Transformer
- Configurations: 24 different room layouts possible
- Key Feature: Sliding walls on ceiling-mounted tracks
- Rooms Include: Living room, bedroom, kitchen, bathroom, library, home theater, spa
How the Transformation Works
The apartment’s walls slide on tracks mounted in the ceiling, allowing them to stack against each other or spread out to create different room configurations. Built-in elements fold out from within the walls—a bed drops down, a kitchen counter extends, a bathtub is revealed. This allows a single 330 square foot space to function as though it were much larger.
Lessons from Transforming Apartment Design
- Walls Don’t Need to Be Fixed: Movable partitions multiply the usable configurations of any space
- Hiding Functions Creates Space: Concealing the kitchen, bed, and bathroom when not in use opens up the floor plan
- Professional Skills Enable Innovation: As an architect, Chang could design and engineer custom solutions for his space
- Density Drives Creativity: Hong Kong’s extreme housing costs motivated innovative approaches to small-space living
- One Space Can Serve Many Purposes: The same 330 square feet functions as home theater, spa, library, or entertaining space as needed
You can share this using the e-mail and social media re-share buttons below. Thanks!
If you enjoyed this you’ll LOVE our Free Daily Tiny House Newsletter with even more!
Also, try our Tiny Houses For Sale Newsletter!
More Like This: Small Apartments | Video Tours
See The Latest: Go Back Home to See Our Latest Tiny Houses
This post may contain affiliate links and/or sponsored content.
Alex
Latest posts by Alex (see all)
- Custom Built 7×14 Cargo Trailer CAMPER Tour - May 20, 2026
- Living Full-Time in a Tesla Model X - May 20, 2026
- Tiny House Communities in Georgia: Where to Live Small in the Peach State - May 20, 2026
I’ve seen this before. While I appreciate the genius in the design of how this works, homes are places to come, well, home to. Not to recreate your living space every time you want/need to do something else.
Imagine coming home, its cold and wet, as are you, and all you want to do is crawl into bed and get some shut eye. But first, you have to push away the kitchen, shove the whatsit over there and then pull out the bedroom. But wait, there’s more. Then you have to pull the bed down and fix the bedding. By this time you’d be wide awake and probably in a state of “I can’t go to sleep!!!!!!!” for the next 3 to 4 hours. This would get old real quick.
Wow, quite the whine.
This home is astonishingly clever in its use of space and beautiful as well. I suppose you can plop a big bed in the middle of your tiny home and either bump your shins trying to move around it to do anything else or have no other life in your home. Amazes me, the endless whine I hear…. it’s too haaarrrddd, pout pout…. for things that cannot take more than a couple MINUTES at most. What the smell drugs are Americans taking?????
Bwa ha ha, not American. Other side of the world… but I’ll let you guess.
Note: I didn’t knock its aesthetics or its use of space. I knocked the fact that it is impractical for the vast majority of people, in America or elsewhere.
Go back, read “exactly” what I said. Homes are places to come home to and NOT recreate a new space everytime you do something different.
Just imagine the costs of replacing the rollers alone when they pack up… and, when they do, will you still be able to get the exact same size and profile?
As I said, impractical for most people.
This apartment is ingenious ! I agree with Paul on the homey aspect but to the guy who designed this place it is home. Big city living isn’t for me to be forced into living as such .give me the big Sky any day. Non argumentative comments appreciated
For the people that actually want to live in small spaces hoping to coexist better I think the storage ideas are amazing! You loose a lot of space even with the rolling walls, they take up space…. But like he kept saying, he had too much storage. Would have felt roomier (and less walls to move, sniff, sniff) if he got rid of a wall or two. I like the fact of not climbing stairs to bed in a loft!
cool ideas. I have 370 sq feet but have a traditional lay out