Nowadays, living in big cities calls for an adventurous and unconventional mindset. Because of a steadily growing population and the accompanying shortage of affordable housing, many people co-habitate or live in very compact apartments. Thus, we are confronted with questions like: what matters most when furnishing a space? How can we best put the space to use and make it work for us? As it turns out, these are rather personal questions and the answers can take many forms.

Fascinated by the many unconventional outcomes of this question that I witnessed, have heard of or made up in effect, I set out to create five personas —fictive personalities—, each accompanied by a scale model of their living situation. Each persona starts with the same space (one square room) yet they each transform it into a unique living situation, highlighting the importance of thinking deeply about our most pressing needs when it comes to our living space and, most importantly, encouraging to let imagination flow freely.

This project was conceived as the practical part of my Master’s Thesis at Fachhochschule Potsdam.

Read the full thesis here (in German):

And watch the accompanying movie here (in German):