Small-Space Living in Aberdeen: The Compact Home Report
Aberdeen's compact homes are constrained differently from new build flats: granite tenements and townhouse conversions combine generous ceiling height with awkward plans, deep window reveals, chimney breasts and box rooms that take a bed or a wardrobe but seldom both. Our conclusion is that furnishing here is a vertical exercise, because height is the space genuinely available, and that access rather than floor area is the barrier that most often defeats a purchase. Tenement stairwells turn tightly, landings are shallow and lifts are uncommon, so a sofa that suits the room may never reach it. We set out the sizing that works in this housing, from single and small double mattress footprints in box rooms to shallow hallway storage at 25cm to 30cm deep, alongside the clearances worth protecting: roughly 75cm for main walkways and 60cm for bedside access. Self assembly and modular pieces solve the stairwell problem structurally....
