Sliding wall system helps small homes reuse space
In a small Dublin apartment this month, Hasier Larrea demonstrated the future of furniture with the touch of a button.
Larrea, a 29-year-old Spaniard, is the founder of Ori, a Boston startup that makes robotic movable furniture — in effect, a wall of furniture that slides.
One side, facing the living room, offers shelves, an entertainment cabinet and a desk. On the other side are a closet, dresser and retractable bed.
Users push a button or use voice commands to slide the system into one of three spots: against the wall, maximizing space in the living area; halfway out, allowing access to the closet; or all the way out, revealing the bed and "bedroom."
For Larrea, who helped develop Ori while a student at MIT, the system offers a solution for cramped studio apartments in major cities.
"We see so many small apartments in big cities," he said. "We thought, 'How can we bring robotics and technology to make the spaces seem bigger?'"
Larrea is on tour, debuting the system in 10 North American apartment developments, including Crawford Hoying's Bridge Park project in Dublin. Columbus is the odd city on the list — the smallest metropolitan area of the bunch by a wide margin.
Allison Srail, associate director of development with Crawford Hoying, pitched Columbus to Larrea. After initial reluctance, he decided that central Ohio would be a good test of how the Ori would
fare in a midsize city.
“We wanted a mix, to combine where the (housing) problem is most severe, such as San Francisco, and cities with a lot of growth and young people and students, such as Columbus,” Larrea said.
He won’t know for at least a year how the Ori will fare in Columbus.
Even though the system is being demonstrated at Bridge Park, Crawford Hoying actually plans to introduce it in the 11-story apartment building it has started at High and Cherry streets in Downtown Columbus, Srail said.
Half of the 40 studio apartments in the building will be outfitted with the Ori, she said. Tenants will be given the option of choosing a studio with the system for an undetermined premium.
“We see it as a great way to make small spaces more usable for tenants,” Srail said.
The Ori, which comes in queen- and full-bed sizes, costs about $10,000. That seems a lot until you consider that it includes a bed, a desk, a closet, a dresser, a bookshelf, a nightstand and an entertainment center.