The evolving spaces of Life Edited

Since 1950, the average American consumes 6 times more energy and carries 24 times more personal debt. He uses 3 times more living space, but still doesn’t have enough room to store his stuff, a fact made clear by a 22B USD personal storage industry. Despite this excess (or perhaps because of it), we find ourselves no happier than we were 60 years ago. Most of us realize it’s relationships and experiences–not possessions–that make us happy. Why don’t we design our homes, products and lifestyles accordingly? [1]

LifeEdited is answering those questions directly. It started in 2009 when Graham Hill, founder of Treehugger.com, launched a competition to design his compact New York City apartment. Living in New York City isn't all adventure and dynamism. Unless you are really wealthy, you would probably have to settle for a living space that ends up cramped and cluttered. The resulting work from Hill's competition was a constantly evolving space, making it into a living embodiment of the ‘edited’ lifestyle. Following Hill’s popular TED talk about the apartment, he realized he wasn’t the only one craving a better, simpler life.

When you walk in, you encounter what is, at first glance, a small studio apartment. Within that cube are actually 8 functional spaces. The living room and office become the bedroom with a tug of a bookshelf. Open one of the closets and you'll find 10 stackable chairs that go around a telescopic dining table for large dinner parties. An entire guest room with bunk-beds and a closet is revealed behind a wall that slides out on tracks. And of course, a well-equipped kitchen and bathroom await. For the full set of photos go here.

[1] Ref. http://www.lifeedited.com/about/