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Living simply means making do with less — less space, less stuff, less money. Oh wait! Make that MORE money. In fact, make that $995,000, because that’s how much you’ll need to shell out for Treehugger founder Graham Hill’s 420-square-foot apartment in Soho. (That may sound like a lot, but it’s only $5,000 a month!)
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This isn’t just ANY tiny apartment, though. Hill held a global design competition to come up with the layout for the gutted space. A sliding wall, murphy bed, and fold-down bunkbeds maximize the space, and a hidden, snap-together dinner table can seat 12. The place is also pimped out with everything from solar panels and fancy appliances to a built-in sound system, projector, and pull-down screen for movies (Netflix, of course — DVDs are so passé). Check it out:
Hill’s “LifeEdited” philosophy is about how you can “live large in small spaces” (“large” referring to your stack of Benjamins in this case). It’s at once appealing and laughable; to repeat a critique leveled at the tiny house movement, people in mobile homes have been living small for decades. LifeEdited, and Hill’s exorbitantly priced apartment by extension, seem a wee bit classist and exclusive, using expensive amenities and sterile aesthetics to distance themselves from people who live small because they can’t afford not to. (Not that anyone would mistake you for lower-class in Soho, but here’s a $1,000 projection system just in case.)
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Dare I say this is what’s wrong with the green movement? It’s not scalable or accessible; it’s luxury environmentalism. Hill’s apartment is like a “My Dream Wedding” Pinterest board: inspirational and swoonworthy for sure, but pretty far removed from reality.
But hey, if you have a spare million lying around, we’re not going to stop you; go ahead and invite us over.
