Studio apartment

The main room of a studio apartment in Minneapolis, United States. The sofabed is to the right and a small alcove on the left. Not shown are the small kitchen and bathroom.

A studio apartment, also known as a studio flat (UK), a self-contained apartment (Nigeria),^[1] efficiency apartment or bachelor apartment, is a small apartment which combines living room, bedroom, and kitchenette into a single room.

Design

These kinds of apartments typically consist of one large room which serves as the living, dining, and bedroom. Kitchen facilities may either be located in the central room, or in a small separate room, and the bathroom is usually in its own smaller room.

The studio apartment is an apartment with a single room. They are also known as single room dwelling places or studio flats. There are several types available; the straight studio is very basic, while the alcove studio has a wing. The wing or nook is off the main area, which can be utilized for dining or sleeping.^[2]

Size

Studio apartment sizes vary considerably. In the United States, the average size is 500 to 600 sq ft.^[2]

Global variations

Brazil

A studio apartment is called quitinete (from kitchenette). It is basically composed of one room, one bathroom, and a kitchen, which is often in the same space as the room. Lately, newly built quitinetes are starting to be called "studios", for the modern appeal English as a foreign language has.

Canada

Bachelor apartment, or simply "bachelor," is the common term in English Canada for any single room dwelling unit which is not a shared accommodation. A shared room, or particularly small bachelor, is sometimes referred to as a "bachelorette." Residents of the province of Quebec (most in French) widely use the term "studio" or "one and a half".

Czech Republic

Garsoniéra (from French "garçon", meaning young man) is one room appartment with separate bathroom and WC, abbreviated as 1+0, sometimes it is 1 room with separate bathroom and WC and kitchenette, abbrevitaed 1+KK.

Hong Kong

Mini apartment around 10 square metres in addition of bathroom and kitchen can cost up to 20 thousand USD. The size of the living area could just around a car park size.^[3]

India

Studio apartments in general are called One room kitchen apartment featuring a hall cum bedroom, including a bathroom and attached kitchenette to the hall mostly availed by one or more Bachelor or a small family ranging around 200 to maximum up to 450 square feet (equivalent to approximately 15–40 square metres).^[4]

Italy

Italians call them "monolocale", meaning "one room". There is only one room with a kitchenette, and a separate bathroom.

Jamaica

Studio apartments are commonly referred to as quads; and are a common feature in Eastern Kingston. They generally consist of one main room, acting as the living room, dining room and bedroom. The kitchen exist within the same room, with partitioning wall. The bathroom is in a smaller room, by itself. These studio apartments generally come adequate yard space and washing facilities (on the outdoors). They have a bed, a stove and a TV too.

Japan

Japan has an even smaller variation of the studio apartment known as the one room mansion.

New Zealand

Known as studio rooms in New Zealand, they frequently feature a bedroom with study area and an en-suite bathroom. Spaces such as kitchen, lounge and dining area are communal between other people staying in that apartment.

Nigeria

In Nigeria, Studio apartments are known as "room self-contain apartments". These apartments typically have a single room; which serves as the living room and bedroom, a kitchen, a bathroom and a toilet (which is often merged with the bathroom).^[5] This form of housing is quite different from "Face-me-I-face-you" apartments, which are normally built facing each other, and with shared toilet(s), bathroom(s) and kitchen space.^[6]

Norway

Studio apartments in Norway are called "1-romsleilighet", "one-room-apartment" in English, because they count both the living room and the bedrooms. Hence an apartment with one bedroom is called a "two-room-apartment" (2-romsleilighet).

Portugal

Studio apartments are designated T0 (T-Zero). This designation follows the Portuguese house classification system, where apartments are classified by their typology as Tx, with the "x" representing the number of independent bedrooms. In the case of the T0, the "0" means that the apartment has no independent bedrooms.

Poland

Studio apartments are called "Kawalerka" ( from a word "Kawaler" – a bachelor ).

Romania

A studio apartment in Romania is known as "garsonieră", a word derived from the French "garçonnière". They are usually one room plus a separate bathroom, sometimes with a small, separate kitchen.

Singapore

Studio apartments, in the context of Singapore's public housing, are flats that are specifically built by the Housing and Development Board to cater to the growing senior citizen population. One must be at least 55 years old to purchase studio apartments. Since August 2015, the scheme was replaced by 2-room Flexi flats, which gives seniors the flexibility to select a lease period that suits them best.^[7]

South Korea

Studio apartments in Korea are called Officetel or One room.

United Kingdom

In British usage, a studio flat is a single room with cooking facilities which has its own bathroom attached. Traditionally, if a dwelling has a shared bathroom, it is known as a bedsit. This distinction is encountered less frequently, as are bedsits themselves (especially in large cities) due to the consequences of the Housing Act 1989 discouraging landlords from offering this once widespread type of accommodation.

United States

A variation common in New York City is the "L-shaped" or "alcove" studio, in which the central room branches off into a small alcove that can be used for sleeping or dining.

See also

• Bachelor pad
• Bedsit
• List of house types

References