Year 9 Geography | Designing Japanese Micro Apartments

In Year 9 Geography, students are investigating the challenges of overpopulation and urbanization and the need for innovative solutions. Year 9 geography students were given the daunting yet exciting task to: design a living space that could accommodate the needs of individuals in densely populated cities.

Working in groups, students became urban planners, architects and interior designers with a choice of a 10 metre squared apartment (+loft) or a 12 metre squared micro apartment. Regardless of the size each apartment needed to contain:

• A bedroom
• Kitchen
• Bathroom
• Study space
• Balcony

To accompany their floor plan students created a mood board for the furniture, colour scheme and all the essentials needed for everyday life. Each group also had to complete a walk through of their apartment to our guest judges, practicing their sales and marketing skills to entice people to live in their apartment. Think Shark Tank meets IKEA showroom, but with more enthusiasm and less flat-pack assembly. I’d like to thank Ms Deb Moir, Mr Derek Truong and Mr Julian Hannuna for their role as guest judges.

Here are some key learnings from the students in 9GE6:

“I loved being able to get creative and do hands on activities too” – Greta Sharp

“That there are so many diverse ways to fit your necessities into a tiny home and make it your own. I liked planning out the floor-plan and putting the tape down on the floor to create the apartment.” – Molly Bentley-Lampe

“I learned a lot of key features from the Tokyo Micro apartment activity, such as learning many creative innovations in the industry, especially in Tokyo. Especially when having a micro apartment, it is important to smartly use all the space to allow the feeling of “home.” From this, we also learnt many cool gadgets and transforming objects that can limit the space used. I really liked the Tokyo Micro apartment activity because it let me show my creativity, and be a part of the modern industry. Working with groups was also a lot of fun, because we could share our ideas and learn things from each other.” – Cloris Xu

– Danielle Rodrigues
Head of Department – HSIE

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