What a small unit could look like

We have received two sketches from our architects, stekke + fraas, that should help people to get some insight in what a small unit could look like. The square meters that are indicated are net (“surface tapis” or “m² habitables”).

In the sketch the units have windows on two sides, but in their email they note that it’s more likely that these units will be mono-oriented.

When thinking about the minimum surface of your unit I seem to understand that there are certain norms that have to be respected (see e.g. this document, p.9 in FR and NL)

In sum:

  • Studios have to be minimum 28 m² net (living room: min 22 m²)
  • In apartments, the minima are these:
    • Kitchen: 8 m²
    • Living room: 20 m²
    • Main bedroom: 14 m²
    • Other bedrooms: 9 m²
    • Technical room (mandatory): 4 m²

We have received an Excel file from the architects that should help us to estimate the approximate surface that we would desire for our private units. Team Building will send out a survey in the course of February, so that we can finish “le programme” by the beginning of March.

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Oh, thanks! I was just looking for the file to post this myself. Ping @Lara .

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Another idea is to have a look on Immoweb (or alike) and set the search parameters for the number of square meters that you are interested in plus a relatively recent year that the thing was build. Easy to see that one doesn’t need a lot of space to live comfortably and beautifully!

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Another idea - if you are open to paying an advance payment on your stay in purgatory - is to go to Ikea and have a look at the demo rooms and mini houses. The last time I went they had one demo house of 35 m² and one of 55 m². Other than that, in most demo rooms, on the left or the right wall next to the entrance there is often an indication of the size. So you can get a feeling of what a 6 m² kitchen looks like, a 12 m² sitting corner etc.