How do you renovate a tiny, traditional house set into a narrow “hutong” alley in Beijing so it fits a large family spanning three generations" Chinese architecture firm B.L.U.E. clearly has plenty of answers to that question up their collective sleeve, judging by two highly functional homes they?ve completed this year. No lot is too small or oddly-shaped to host a residence packed full of every feature a family could possibly need, thanks mostly to a series of incredibly clever built-ins.

The first example is a tenement house on a lot measuring no more than 258 square feet, which had to fit a family of five, including the owners, their parents and their children. On top of that, each member of the family requested their own private space. Seems impossible, right" But check out what B.L.U.E. did to make that dream a reality. The home butts right up against the exterior wall of a neighboring residence, so creative daylighting was required. The architects made half of the ceiling glass to compensate for the lack of windows, filling the center of the home with sunlight that reflects from white tiles and cabinetry.

The master bedroom and children?s room bleed into one another in the upstairs loft, which looks down onto the living room and its small, sunny library. A third bedroom space doubles as an extra dining area downstairs, the mattress folding up to reveal a pop-up table with bench seating. Storage cubes double as seats for a second fold-down dinin...