"Real simple living," Shape shifting apartments part of smaller homes trend
MANCHESTER -- Inside what's been dubbed by the New Hampshire Union Leader as the "coolest" building in the state is a very cool innovation.
"So you can see that right now it is a sofa," said Gerry Dupont, co-owner of the Red Oak apartment building in downtown Manchester. "When it's time for bed, when it's nighttime, all you have to do is push this button, and now this is going to transform into a bed."
The Red Oak has 10 of these Ori Cloud beds, converting living rooms into bedrooms, and residents have snatched them up quickly.
"Real simple living" one of the tenants told WBZ-TV. "Everything's at your fingertips, and, if we're being totally honest, a lot less to clean."
It's part of a national trend of smarter, smaller living in urban areas, especially in the Northeast, where housing and rental prices have skyrocketed.
"What that means is very simply, that spaces are becoming smaller and more expensive," said Hasier Larrea, founder of Ori Living, which is based in Boston.
"If you can make square footage be more, then you're going to be more sustainable, because you're using less, you're going to pay less rent because you're using less square footage, but also the developer is going to make more money per square foot," he told WBZ. "So it's all about the business of square footage."
Ori, short for "origami" because the apartments fold, offers more than just the bed. They offer entire apartments that can shape-shift and fit residents' needs. They're now in 30 cities across the country, including Manchester, Nova in Quincy and the Proto building in Kendall Square in Cambridge.
"So depending on the type of apartment, we would use one solution or the other and make this apartment expandable" Larrea says.
As for Red Oak, they're building another apartment complex in downtown Manchester and will include 20 Ori Cloud beds inside.
"We wanted a studio that was truly different and truly unique, and the Ori Cloud bed really gives our residents that option," Dupont said.