Living spaces getting smaller and smaller.

Colours:

Colours are also a main factor in out decision making process. Choosing the right colours will not only make the furniture aesthetically pleasing, it will also help in the environment. For example, choosing a dark coloured material will cause the furniture to absorb heat faster and this might cause the wood to bloat. In addition, dust in the air will become visible when found on the table. However, a lighter shade of colour would cause disadvantage too as it would be prone to dirt. Hence, choosing the right material and colour is very crucial in our design.

Living spaces getting smaller and smaller.

Lighting:

On a side note, lighting is also very important as well. Lighting can make a space look bigger, wider and more spacious. For examples, white lightings, cool light, fluorescent light and LED can help to achieve that.

Besides cool lightings, warm lights are not advised to be installed in a room as it gives off a cosy vibe. Hence, if one is looking towards the idea of having a spacious room, they should install a cool light. In my opinion, having a convenient and multi-functional furniture's purpose is to make use of space and to make the space look big and spacious. Hence, the choice of lighting is equally important as well.

Living spaces getting smaller and smaller.

Choice of material:

For our final design, we have taken the material into consideration as well. Since it is a multi-functional furniture that will be used frequently, wood that is suitable for the indoor environment would be the ideal choice. In addition, we must also take the weather into consideration as Singapore's weather is really humid at times and that will create more moisture in the air. Hence, having material that can withstand the heat and moisture can increase the lifespan of the furniture. 

On the contrary, it is also possible to use a sealer to make the wood waterproof so that it can withstand the weather better. 

Living spaces getting smaller and smaller.

Foldable furniture with a chair and table combination

Bed frame storage

The second research method used is Experience. This experience is from my own experience. Due to the limited space given, i prefer to use foldable tables or furniture that comes combined together and can be easy to store away without taking up too much space. Also, there are bed frames in the market that enable us to store things under our bed. I think that furnitures like these are very functional and it helps greatly in keeping the living space as spacious as possible. Having more storage also helps as i can pack away the stuff that i do not use often.

Living spaces getting smaller and smaller.

We have also made 3 different research methodology to show how we are going to tackle this problem and also to show what we want to achieve by using these method. Firstly, we are going to tackle this problem using the comparison method.

By comparing the size of a HDB flat with the old and new. It is obvious that old flats are so much bigger than now. Apparently, the reason for it is because the families now are getting smaller thus the government shrink the sizes of HDB flats so that it will not occupy unnecessary lands and the land can be saved up and used for better purposes in the future.

A four-room HDB flat in the 1980s, boasted a size of 105 sq m, or 1,130 sq ft. Today, four-room flats built by HDB have shrunk to about 90 sq m, or 969 sq ft.   HDB chief executive Cheong Koon Hean confirmed same, that it reduced flat sizes in the mid-1990s.   

Extracted from the report

Living spaces getting smaller and smaller.

Our last research for Chapter 1 of our report is on different personas. We have chosen two personas for this project and they are Singapore citizens and foreigners. Below is an extract of Chapter 1.4 written by me for the report.

Chapter 1.4 different personas

We have two personas for this project, they are Singapore citizens and foreigners. Firstly, the living spaces in Singapore are getting smaller and smaller as there insufficient land to build more buildings. Hence, the buildings today are getting smaller but taller. The increase in the number of storeys in HDB buildings gives more houses for people to stay as there will be more rooms available. However, as land spaces are limited, rooms are getting smaller and smaller.

Secondly, the cause of limited land space made renting of rooms difficult for foreigners as they will be competing with Singaporeans for a house to live in. In addition, that rental fees for foreigners will be higher as there are lack of space in Singapore and in order to get an apartment to stay in, they have to pay for the expensive rental fees. Furthermore, the number of foreigners coming into Singapore is increasing which leads to an increase in Singapore population. This also means that the living spaces in Singapore is too little to occupy the population in Singapore

Living spaces getting smaller and smaller.

'Este villa' in Singapore

We have also done research of the types of living spaces in Singapore. In Singapore, there are many different types of living spaces to choose from. The most basic, the HDB flats, it comes in 2-rooms, 3-rooms, 4-rooms and 5-rooms. There are also apartment houses that are more expensive as compared to HDB flats and also the villa, which is often located far from the city area, normally affordable to the riches. 

Exterior of a beautiful container house

Interior of a travel trailer

Interior of a treehouse

As compared to other countries, people who cannot afford the most standard house, they can live in containers or a travel trailer. Even tree houses are possible for them to live in.