With the population in cities booming, a reduction in living space makes excellent sense: It lowers the cost of living, cuts down electricity and commuting costs, reduces housework,
and
eliminates
some decorating needs. With a versatility born out of necessity, Pratt architects and interior designers show how to downsize in this lagging economy whether in town or country. Small spaces have taken a large role in the architectural practice of Pratt alumnus Martin Rich, B. Arch. ’63, for more than 30 martin rich aia
years. Some of his early work involved adapting marginal spaces in prewar apartments, such as maid’s rooms or closets, into children’s playrooms with lofts, ladders, and custom elements, generally under 100 square feet in area.
Martin Rich, B. Arch. ’63 changes a child’s world for the better by creating play lofts in small spaces.
A family of five fits into architect Rich’s 280-square-foot cabin in upstate New York.
“The intensive use of space has become a common thread in dealing with martin rich aia
expensive New York City real estate,” Rich says, “and it has been employed in a variety of interior renovation types including medical facilities, commercial spaces, daycare, and education sites.” The lessons he learned by altering minuscule spaces for children Rich later applied with great success to his designs for medical offices, which must accommodate caregivers, patients, and sensitive equipment in the same compact space, utilizing wall space to provide maximum storage. Due to his expertise, Rich also developed and published space standards and ergonomic guidelines for medical environments, a specialty of his. More recently, Rich has directed his interest in making the best use of space to sustainable residential projects, among them a 280-square-foot cabin for a family of five that provides a year-round living environment atop a mountain in Red Rock, N.Y. Using locally supplied and natural materials, the Red Rock cabin blends into its hillside setting, providing a foothold on a site that Rich is in the process of developing as a vacation complex for his clients. With its fully functional kitchen, a bathroom with shower, and a sleeping loft that reaches 16 feet at its peak and doubles as a daytime play area for the children, the cabin exemplifies Rich’s skill in getting several uses out of the same space while also scaling down individual components to their minimum sizes. When the client’s main house is completed this fall, the cabin will serve as a guesthouse. 9