THE PROPOSITION
One person. One boat. Approximately 15m².
The Small Boat is an experiment in temporary small-space living, designed for weekends, short stays or a few months away — not as a replacement for the space and comforts of everyday life, but as an opportunity to step outside them.
The idea draws loosely on the thinking of Henry David Thoreau — the value of stepping away from the familiar to reconsider what we actually need — alongside the restraint and quiet spatial intelligence found in Japanese minimalism.
The question was simple: how much can you do with 15m² if you design specifically for temporary living, rather than trying to squeeze a conventional home into a smaller footprint?
Making space work
The challenge wasn't simply to make everything fit. It was to decide what genuinely deserved space.
A proper bed. A useful workspace. A bathroom that doesn't feel like an afterthought. Somewhere to cook, eat, read and relax. Storage where it's needed, without allowing it to take over.
The layout is deliberately flexible. During the day, the boat can become a compact office on the water — a quiet base for working remotely, writing, designing or simply getting away from the usual environment.
The aim is not minimalism for its own sake. It's about creating enough: enough space, enough comfort and enough flexibility to make a short period away feel genuinely worthwhile.
The result
The Small Boat explores a different relationship with space — one where less physical territory doesn't necessarily mean less experience.
For a weekend, a month or a season, 15m² can become a place to slow down, focus, work, read, explore and reset.
Small by necessity. Generous by design.
