I’m the kind of packrat who is always running out of space for my stuff. It’s everything from my collection of pez dispensers to my favorite T-shirts or those magazines I’m still planning on reading or want to reference later. I’ve got stuff - and lots of it.
Fortunately, in my adult life I’ve had opportunitities to live in houses that have the square footage to contain my clutter.

However, there are millions of people in urban settings whose apartments just don’t have enough elbow room. The walls seem to close in on these city dwellers.

There is a solution to the space issue. It’s the backpack house - a box with windows that apartment residents can attach to the outside of their building to extend their living space. The lighted cube isn’t just a few extra square feet, it’s also considered art.

The additional room is 8.22 feet (2.5 meters) both tall and wide and 11.84 feet (3.6 meters) deep. In some crowded urban areas, there are probably entire apartments that aren’t much bigger.

Inside the cube there are built-in elements that fold down and remain in place with the help of hidden magnets to create furniture - desk, shelves and a platform the owner can potentially use for reading or sleeping. A light birch veneer paneling makes the inside of the welded steel cube seem a bit more “homey” while the windows provide natural light and a view of the neighborhood.

I’m thinking it might be easier to sell all of my “collectibles” on e-bay than to add this architectural cube to any existing structure.

Now, convincing your landlord to allow you to attach a two-ton box via steel cables to the outside of his brownstown might take a little extra work, maybe an extra “pretty please with sugar on top.”

Just remind him that the welded steel structure is “art.” That should make him beg you to place this on the outside of his prime real estate.

Tags: architecture, backpack house, real estate, square feet, cube, structure, apartment building, living space, extra room, art

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