Twenty square meters sounds small. And it is — if the apartment is all you have.
But that’s exactly the premise the compact housing model questions. The studio is not the house. It’s the bedroom. The difference changes the entire calculation.
This guide addresses the question honestly: when a 20m² studio works, when it doesn’t, and what changes the outcome.
What you actually use in your apartment
Before talking about square meters, a different question is worth asking: in a 70m² or 90m² apartment, how many square meters do you actually occupy day to day?
Most people, when they analyze honestly, realize their routine concentrates in just a few functional spaces: the bedroom for sleeping, the kitchen for preparing simple meals, the bathroom, and an area for working or watching something. Dining rooms for guests, spare bedrooms reserved for visits that rarely happen, the square meters of circulation between rooms — much of the space exists as possibility, not as daily use.
This isn’t criticism of spacious housing. It’s an observation about how square meters are distributed and how much of each is really necessary for functional and satisfying living.
The logic that came from Europe
In cities like Amsterdam, Lisbon, Copenhagen and Berlin, it’s common to live in 40 to 60m². Not as sacrifice — as deliberate choice.
What makes this viable isn’t resignation to less space. It’s the city that complements what the apartment doesn’t have. A café on the corner where you work in the morning. A park 5 minutes away where you read in the afternoon. A restaurant on the ground floor of your building. A grocery store on the street below. Coworking space in the shared office 2 blocks away.
When the city is dense enough and quality enough, the apartment doesn’t need to do everything. It can do less — and you live better.
The issue in Brazil isn’t that the studio is bad. It’s that in most of our cities, the poorly located and poorly-serviced studio is, in fact, insufficient. Location and building context are more determinant than square meters.
What the building solves that the apartment doesn’t need to solve
A functional studio is not just “bedroom with small kitchen.” It’s a private bedroom inside a building that completes what’s missing.
What a good compact housing project delivers outside the apartment:
Work: coworking with individual stations, acoustic rooms for meetings and calls, collaborative work area. Home office doesn’t need to fit in the studio if there’s coworking on the 2nd floor.
Social life: rooftop with sauna, pool, gourmet space, lounge. You don’t receive friends in the studio — you receive them on the rooftop. This changes the calculation of necessary interior space.
Daily practicality: mini market on the ground floor, collective laundry, Smart Delivery for parcel receipt without your presence. Each friction eliminated from the day-to-day has real value.
Movement: bike storage, location near transit. The property that eliminates the need for a car frees up money and time — two resources more scarce than square meters.
When the building offers all this, the 20m² studio isn’t a space sacrifice. It’s a scale choice: you live in less because the building and city do the rest.
The right studio versus the wrong studio
There’s a huge difference between two 20m² studios with similar price tags.
The wrong studio: sits in a peripheral neighborhood with no urban infrastructure. The building has no common areas beyond a standard gym. You depend on a car for everything. There’s nowhere to work, nowhere to receive people, buying lunch requires a delivery app. The 20m² are all you have — and they’re insufficient.
The right studio: sits downtown or in a neighborhood with dense services. The building has coworking, rooftop, mini market. The city is at the door. The 20m² are your bedroom — the building is the extension of your home.
The price per square meter of the two can be similar. The quality of life they deliver is incomparable.
The most common mistake when evaluating compact studios is comparing only square meters/price. The relevant data is: what’s included in the ticket beyond the square meters?
When the studio DOES NOT work
Honesty requires admitting: the compact studio isn’t for every profile.
Family with young children. The space, safety and routine needs of a family with young children demand more than a studio can offer. This is the most obvious and most real limitation.
Those with a lot of belongings. Part of studio viability is editing what accumulates. Those with many furnishings, collections, equipment or simply don’t want to part with belongings will face real difficulty.
Those who spend a lot of time at home. The model works for those who use the apartment for sleeping, storing belongings and privacy — and use the building and city for everything else. Those who work from home all day, frequently receive people and live concentrated in the apartment will feel the limitation.
Those who prioritize private area above all else. If the premise is “more square meters, better” and any other consideration is secondary, there are more suitable products. The well-located compact studio trades private area for urban quality — and that trade-off isn’t for everyone.
What to ask before deciding
If you’re considering a compact studio, the right questions aren’t about the apartment’s square meters. They’re about context:
How far by foot are: grocery store, pharmacy, café and transit? If the answer is “I need a car for everything,” the studio will be insufficient regardless of the building.
Is the coworking real or is it a desk in the hallway? There’s a huge difference between coworking with acoustic rooms and dedicated stations and an improvised corner in circulation space.
What is the rooftop or social area? If you won’t have a living room in the apartment, where will you receive people?
Does the building have a mini market or equivalent? Dependence on delivery for every daily purchase is friction that accumulates.
Where does your money go that doesn’t go to square meters? In a well-located studio, savings in transit, parking and nearby services can be significant.
What practice shows
Lisbon has neighborhoods like Mouraria and Intendente where 30m² studios are occupied with high quality of life — because the city does what the apartment can’t. Berlin has Mitte and Prenzlauer Berg. Amsterdam has Jordaan. Copenhagen has Vesterbro.
In Florianópolis, this model is still scarce — the stock of well-located studios with real infrastructure is small. What exists in greater volume are poorly-serviced studios in peripheral neighborhoods or studios in central neighborhoods without coworking, rooftop or mini market.
The scarcity of this specific product — compact studio, central location, complete building — is part of the argument for those evaluating it. When it exists and is in the right place, demand for occupancy is high.
Frequently Asked Questions about Compact Studios
Is 17m² too small?
It depends on what’s outside. The Standard Studio at Parkside Rio Branco is 16.9m² — but it’s 3 minutes from Parque Marina, has coworking on the 2nd floor, rooftop on the top and mini market on the ground floor. The studio is the bedroom. The building is the house. 17m² in a building without structure, in a neighborhood without services, is insufficient. 17m² in the right place, with the right building, can be sufficient for functional and satisfying living.
Does the studio have a garage?
At Parkside Rio Branco parking works like this: the 2-bedroom includes 1 space. Studios and 1-bedroom do not include a space — but there are units with available spaces for optional purchase, in limited quantity. If the space is a requirement, confirm availability before finalizing the unit type. The building has covered bike storage for residents without a car.
Does the studio have a dining room?
No — the space is open-plan. The dining room is on the rooftop. That’s the premise: areas for occasional use (dining with friends, receiving guests) stay in common areas, which are designed for it.
Can I renovate the studio after buying?
The studio is delivered 100% furnished and equipped. Renovations that alter the structure or installed furnishings are subject to condominium association rules. Customizations within the apartment (art, personal objects, organization) are free.
Does a studio appreciate less than a large apartment?
The relationship between size and appreciation is less direct than it appears. What appreciates property is location, liquidity and demand. Studios in central locations with high rental demand tend to have good liquidity — which is the opposite of what happens with 3-bedroom apartments downtown, which have fewer buyers and longer sales times.
Want to know more about Parkside Rio Branco?
Parkside Rio Branco is in pre-launch phase. The price list — with values by unit type, by floor and payment terms — will be revealed in a closed event for leads registered by May 28th.
Register now for priority access before the public opening.
