How to live in under 500 square feet, part 1

One of the many projects I have been working on recently is the interior design for my own small studio apartment located in Downtown Los Angeles. The entire apartment is just under 450 square feet but the main room seems smaller than it should due to fairly large bathroom and eat-in kitchen. I am the process of moving into this apartment from a large shared house, which offered more than enough space to indulge in my habits of collecting musical instruments, books and assorted E-Bay bargains. Obviously the challenge of this project is to fit my ten pounds of junk into the five pound can I am about to move into.
The first step was to build as much shelving space as possible. However, this all needs to be accessible and while storage space is great, I also don't want to look like I am living in the middle of a walk-in closet. Secondly, I am unwilling to give up my large bed which offers an additional impediment to my rapidly shrinking floor area.
The solution had to be either a bed which folder up and out of site, ie. a Murphy bed, futon, or hide-away couch. The problem with all of those options is that they either take away from floor or wall space. The second option would be a loft bed. I took this a step further, what if the loft bed also could raise or lower so that you could still have enough room to stand under the bed when it is fully lifted. Therefore, option two it is! I am still able to have shelves on all walls, plus the bed can move out of the way when it is not needed.
I'll post some photos soon. In the meantime are some digital images of how the project is developing.

Gadeokdo Competition Detail Images

The following images are some close ups from our competition boards.

Recap followed by additional posts

Obviously my New Years resolution to write posts on a regular basis didn't last too long. To make up for this, I will do a quick recap of the last two months, followed by a flurry of posts which will add up to the correct amount of posts, had I been blogging diligently.
My office, Studioreverse, partnered up with United Lab in Los Angeles to participate in the Gadeokdo Gateway City competition in South Korea. We had been talking for months about doing a competition together and were waiting until the right opportunity came along. The project was located on an island just off the coast of Busan. The city is building a massive bridge which will connect the city center of Busan with Gadeokdo island and a string of islands surrounding the coast. The competition asked for us to make a new gateway city, with an emphasis on sustainability, and including a new airport as part of the plan.
Our proposal was to make this island a case study of intelligent and sustainable city planning. The plan centered around a "super hub" located in the north of the island. This hub had an underground network of roads and parking, keeping the surface streets from from cars entirely. A network of canals and some streets provided a mass transit network of water taxi and electric buses. We also made the decision to locate the ticketing, baggage check, waiting areas and support offices of the airport in the heart of the city. Once checked in, passengers could venture out from the airport and see the city - grab a bite to eat, watch a show, go to the park etc. When it was time for the flight, passengers would take a dedicated tram to the airport island, locate a few kilometers away.
Unfortunately our proposal was not selected as a finalist. We still are generally pleased with how the project turned out and will try to develop this further. I will publish close ups of the boards in a post to follow.

3d Holographic Architectural Imaging

My business partner showed this video to me. It is quite amazing how they can create the illusion of a 3d model with just a simple glass plane

Holographic Architectural Imaging by Zebra from Core77 on Vimeo.