Located in the residential neighborhood of Ho Man Tin in Kowloon, Hong Kong, this apartment was designed with a box-loft bedroom that's suspended above the main living and dining area. The little nook looks out to views of tree canopies along the hillside where the condominium is sited.

The original apartment was a 370-square-foot space with 10-foot-high ceilings. It followed a conventional layout, with the bedroom, kitchen, dining, and living areas all located on the same floor.

Hong Kong architecture and interior design firm NC Design & Architecture Ltd. (NCDA) came up with a creative solution to maximize the functional space by taking advantage of the 10-foot-high ceilings and creating an unusual bedroom. Using a custom split-level strategy, they designed a cozy sleeping loft that would free up precious floor space for the living areas and be visually undetectable upon entry to the apartment.

An existing internal wall was removed to create an open-plan lower level where the living room, dining area, and galley-style kitchen—with six-foot-high ceilings—is located. From the dining area, ladder-like steps lead up four feet to the elevated bedroom deck, with just enough room for its user to sit upright when reading in bed.

This 40-square-foot box-loft sleeping area is clad in natural pine wood and seems to float like a tree house above the main level of the apartment. Along the strip of wall next to the mattress is a section of glazing that allows the sleeper to look out at the forest.

Dark blue walls frame and provide gentle contrast to the lush green environs that can be seen through the large windows. One side of the box-loft's exterior cladding, which can be seen from the living area, was designed to look like a feature wall with a latticework of stacked terra-cotta tiles or cement breeze-block.

This Mini Tree House is an example of how even tiny urban apartments in densely populated cities like Hong Kong can be imaginatively transformed to connect with nature.

A Tiny Hong Kong Apartment With a Tree House-Inspired Loft