The Cabanon

Photography: © Ossip van Duivenbode – courtesy of Beatriz Ramo (STAR strategie) -Bernd Upmeyer (BOARD Bureau of Architecture Research and Design)

As the cost of living continues to rise, available living space is shrinking, making space optimization a prominent topic of discussion. This innovative project by Beatriz Ramo and Bernd Upmeyer pushes the boundaries of maximizing livable space to a whole new level.

The Cabanon is a fully equipped micro-apartment spanning just 6.89 square meters, featuring two infrared saunas and a whirlpool bath. Its layout divides it into four distinctive spaces, each with unique material treatments and ceiling heights: a 3-meter-high living room, a compact 1.14-meter-high bedroom with ample storage, a rain-shower-equipped toilet, and an enclosed spa—its own “room within a room.”

Likely the world’s smallest apartment with a spa, the Cabanon transforms an existing attic storage space into a highly functional living area. It’s located on the top floor of a 1950s residential building in central Rotterdam, with interior dimensions of 3 meters high, 1.97 meters wide, and 3.6 meters long, and a 6-square-meter window overlooking the city.

This project is a personal exploration in intentional minimalism for architects Beatriz Ramo and Bernd Upmeyer, who discovered enrichment in voluntary simplicity—without sacrificing luxury. Rather than austerity, the Cabanon embodies “epicurean reduction.”

This small space fulfils its owners’ specific desires for a second home: a close bed for intimacy, a window bench, a small but functional kitchen for weekend cooking, and luxurious features like a rain-shower, saunas, and a whirlpool. Each element is thoughtfully dimensioned based on the proportions of its occupants, with heights and widths aligned with their needs for different activities: 2.13 meters for showering, 1.80 meters for bathing or sauna use, 1.14 meters for sleeping or seating, and a generous 3 meters for the main living area.

The Cabanon challenges traditional notions of uniform ceiling height, illustrating how differentiated spaces can enhance a compact environment. It seems to expand as more functions are layered within.

Each of the four zones was crafted around standard product dimensions to avoid costly customisations: the bedroom designed around a specific mattress, the spa sized to fit the bathtub, and the kitchen shaped by the mini-fridge depth. This approach also guided the construction; for example, the bathtub was installed before the walls around it.

Material choices shifted from the initial color concept to take advantage of unexpected offers. While green marble, white mosaic, and blue cement tiles were originally planned, the final design features black Chinese marble from the 1980s in the spa, blue mosaic in the shower, coral cement tiles in the living room, and a mint green surprise in the bedroom.

The Cabanon offers an intriguing model for maximising space and reducing costs, though it doesn’t suggest compactness as the sole solution to affordable housing. Instead, it offers strategies that could improve housing quality and affordability: optimising spaces to maximise functional possibilities, modulating ceiling heights to accommodate overlapping uses, and embracing minimalism to reduce unnecessary accumulation.