The Apartment Buyer's Guide: What Architects Actually Look At
Most apartments aren't designed for the people who live in them. They're designed for the people who build and sell them. That's not cynicism — it's just how the economics of residential development work. Costs get cut, layouts get standardized, and features that genuinely improve daily life get value-engineered out before the first unit sells.
If you're about to spend a significant amount of money — or take on a loan you'll be paying off for years — it's worth knowing what you're actually evaluating. This guide covers the features that matter most, in order of priority, from the perspective of someone who has both studied and lived in a wide range of apartments.
Why Most Apartments Look the Way They Do
The contemporary apartment has its roots in the modernist movement of the early 20th century. After World War 1, modernism emerged as a reaction to the rigid, classically-influenced architecture of the 19th century. The focus shifted to function, pragmatism, and economy — which wasn't a bad thing in principle. Le Corbusier's Unité d'Habitation is probably the clearest example of what modernist residential living looked like at its most deliberate.
The problem is that modernism, despite its democratic ambitions, was still largely a conversation among architects and intellectuals. Residential design ended up being a simplified version of upper-class city houses, stripped down and replicated at scale. That template has more or less persisted ever since, with developers refining it further in the direction of lower construction costs rather than better living conditions.
Understanding this helps explain why so many apartments feel like they're missing something. They often are.
The Basics — What Every Apartment Must Have
These are non-negotiable. If a unit doesn't meet these thresholds, no amount of good lighting or fresh paint will compensate.
Light directions
This refers to how many sides of the apartment receive natural light. It sounds technical, but the practical implication is straightforward: more light directions give you more flexibility in how you organize the interior. Rooms that need light (living areas, bedrooms) can be positioned where the light actually is, rather than where the floor plan dictates.
The minimum is one direction. Two is the real target — the difference between one and two directions is significant, both in terms of comfort and in resale value. Going from two to three directions is nice, but the improvement is marginal by comparison. If a unit only has windows on one side, make sure that side actually gets decent light. If it doesn't, walk away.
Usable surface area
This is about usable square meters — floor space you can actually occupy, not including walls. For a single person, anything under 20 sqm starts to require design workarounds to function properly. Under 15 sqm and you're either compromising on basic features or relying on shared building facilities to make up the difference.
The comfortable range for one person is 30–35 sqm. At that size, you have room for everything you need without custom furniture or clever tricks. Above 35 sqm, you start seeing diminishing returns — more space doesn't automatically mean better living, it just means more space.
For reference: a 9 sqm studio with a sink but no kitchen is technically habitable. It is not, in any meaningful sense, a good place to live.
Number of rooms
Here it helps to distinguish between general rooms (bedroom, living room — spaces that can be repurposed) and technical rooms (kitchen, bathroom — spaces that can't). When counting rooms, we're talking about the general ones.
The minimum is one room. The practical target is what you might call 1.5 — meaning enough rooms that one can serve a secondary function. For a single person, that means a bedroom plus a living room at a minimum. For two people, a two-bedroom with a living room is optimal; a one-bedroom with a living room is the floor. The logic is simple: you want at least one room that isn't doing double duty at all times.
The Features That Actually Improve Daily Life
These don't show up on every listing, and they're frequently eliminated in newer developments to cut costs. They make a real difference.
A closed kitchen
Open-plan kitchens have become standard in new builds, but not because buyers asked for them. They're cheaper to build — removing the wall between the kitchen and living area saves the developer money and gives the unit a superficially larger feel on a viewing.
The practical case for a closed kitchen is straightforward. Cooking smells, noise, and visual clutter stay contained. The kitchen can be properly dimensioned for actual cooking rather than configured around what fits in an open corner. And if you work from home, you're not staring at last night's dishes while you're on a call.
If a unit has a closed kitchen, that's a point in its favor.
A balcony, terrace, or yard
Outdoor space in an apartment tends to be underused — cluttered with things people don't know where else to put, or sealed off entirely in colder climates. This is a mistake. People aren't well-suited to spending extended periods entirely indoors, and even a small balcony, properly set up, functions as a genuine extension of the living space.
If the apartment doesn't have any outdoor access, the absence becomes noticeable over time. More surface area and higher ceilings help compensate, but they don't fully replace it.
A proper workspace
Remote work has been mainstream for long enough that there's no excuse for apartments without a dedicated area for a desk. And yet most new developments still don't have one.
A proper desk — around 70 x 120 cm, not a compact side table — requires enough wall space and room clearance to function. Working from a kitchen chair at a kitchen table for any extended period will eventually cost you in physical therapy bills. A proper setup means the right chair, the right distance from a screen, and enough surface for everything you're actually working with. It's not a luxury feature; it's a basic requirement if you work from home at all.
A corridor
This one disappears from floor plans regularly under the argument that it's wasted space. It isn't. A corridor — or any kind of buffer zone between the entrance and the main living area — serves a function that's easy to underestimate until it's gone.
It separates the public from the private. When you walk into an apartment that opens directly into the living room, or worse, into a combined living-kitchen-dining space, the apartment never quite feels like it has a sense of enclosure. A corridor gives you that transition. It also means rooms connect to a shared circulation space rather than directly to each other, which matters for privacy — especially when more than one person lives there.
Premium Features Worth Paying Attention To
These are harder to find and not essential, but if a unit has them, they're worth factoring into your decision.
Private or multiple bathrooms. One bathroom per bedroom is the ideal ratio, particularly for shared living. Even a second bathroom — regardless of whether it's en suite — substantially reduces daily friction.
A dining space. A dedicated area for a table that seats more than two people. Rare in smaller apartments, but useful if you cook regularly or have people over.
Built-in storage. A coat room, walk-in closet, or dedicated storage room keeps the rest of the apartment functional and uncluttered. Hard to retrofit; worth seeking out.
High ceilings. More volume makes a space feel less constrained, particularly in smaller apartments. It comes at a price premium, but if you're choosing between two otherwise similar units, the one with higher ceilings will feel better to live in over time.
How to Use This When You're Apartment Hunting
Work through it in order. Get the basics right first — light, surface area, room count. If a unit fails on any of those, the advanced features don't rescue it. Once the basics check out, look at the daily-life features: kitchen configuration, outdoor access, workspace, and circulation. The premium features are a bonus, not a filter.
If you're seriously considering a purchase and want a second opinion on the layout or the building quality, a short consultation with an architect before you sign is worth the cost. Not a full engagement — just a focused conversation about what you're looking at and what you might be missing.
If you're planning a purchase and want that kind of input, Office Hours is a good starting point — a focused consultation before you commit to anything.
