More thought is going into design of small apartments, shared spaces

AS APARTMENTS grow smaller and the concept of shared spaces evolves into more than just a common braai area, Signatura’s David Cohen predicts the thought that goes into these spaces in terms of design and functionality will increase quite a bit.

“These spaces also provide a public way to give the developments an individual flair. I know we thought quite a bit and had many in-depth design meetings with our architects to get the amenities floor at The Onyx looking good.

“We made a real effort not to skimp on materials and are using items such as large form natural marble slabs for flooring and granite tile cladding pieces that you might only find in a luxury house.

“We not only have the prerequisite pool and gym, we have made the pool an indoor-outdoor pool with a jack-knife glass door which will allow for swimming during the winter months and on windy days.

“We also have a lounge area which flows out to a sun deck which will be serviced by an onsite coffee and cocktail bar as well as a full spa with manipedi, treatment rooms and other surprises.”

Generally speaking, he says conversion of hotels into residences is challenging and costly as it is difficult to adapt the hotel room layout to an apartment.

However, what does have potential is the conversion into micro-units, which is a developing trend in the marketplace with owners and tenants willing to sacrifice private space for good location and more shared spaces and amenities.

Dogon’s Rob Stefanutto agrees there is a trend towards smaller units that offer owners high quality at an affordable price that fulfils the need for accommodation.

“With many homeowners choosing to live further from the city, they are choosing to have a small place in the city and vice versa. People are buying small units close to the city so they don’t have to commute from suburbs that are far away.”

He says there is also a significant trend toward people buying into developments, as it offers new properties that are up-to-date and have the modern convenience of technology built in.