A former star of BBC hit TV show Dragons' Den wants to revolutionise the property market by building luxury homes boasting several 'rooms' inside a tiny studio flat space.

Simon Woodroffe has created a home which offers four times the rooms within the confines of a typical one-bedroom flat.



His YO! Home prototype works by hiding rooms which then appear at the touch of a button or the pull of a wall - with an amazing bedroom lowered down from the ceiling.







These ‘hidden rooms’, which are operated via 12 mechanical moving parts, are designed to create four 80 sq/m rooms in one single 80 sq/m apartment.



As a result the property boasts a master bedroom suite, second bedroom, a sunken sitting room, cinema, dining room, office, full-size kitchen, breakfast room, bathroom, party room and even a wine cellar.





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It is the result of seven years of design and development from Woodroffe, 60, who lives on a luxury river boat on the Thames.





He said: "I think homes help shape our lives. They are our refuge, and our rock.



"Since the invention of the city centre apartment, we’ve never really re-invented it. YO! Home is that new invention.



"Twelve moving parts draw on a wealth of engineering technology taken from fields as diverse as yacht and automotive design and the mechanics of stage production, allowing the transformation of an 80 sq/m space into a much bigger home.



"The technologies we have used are already established in car design, super-yachts and theatre, their application in the home is long overdue."



Woodroffe, who used to work as a rock show stage designer, took inspiration from the way experts manage stage mechanics on West End musical shows.



He has also been heavily influenced by the principles of Japanese living, where the simple and adaptable layout of traditional rooms allows many activities to take place in the same space.







He added: "The time-honoured architecture of the stage brings with it the basic principles of counter-weights and moving parts, allowing safe, easy and low-energy movement of large elements such as the bed and wall.



"More high-tech elements, such as sensors and electronics, will make the concept easy to use and family-proof."



The entrepreneur is so far refusing to reveal a price for a YO! Home, with each being dependent on the design.



But the businessman, who appeared on the first series of Dragons’ Den, does not want it to be so expensive that customers could instead just buy a larger home.









































































