We Get It. The concept of sacrificing space for the convenience and amenities of city life is not new to us. While many of us live small, BusinessWeek recently published a story on the growing number of homes built on tiny lots in Tokyo — many lots are approximately 300 sq. ft!...
The home pictured above is 344 sq. ft. and shared by a couple and their adult daughter (that's a bedroom on the top left!). It's interesting to note how hard it is to take photographs of the tiny interiors of these ultra-compact houses, or kyo-sho-jutaku in Japanese.
Look at the unique stair design in this five-story home on 259 sq. ft.of land — carefully designed to maximize the livable space.
Check out all the images. Via MoCoLoco.
Man, I would love a house like that. It's so stylish and doesn't look cold at all.
Here's an idea: can someone make a video of how to live in such a small space? This really is more than just design; it's a discipline.
Here in Philadelphia, there are many tiny rowhouses called trinity row houses from the 18th century. They are three floors with just one room on each floor (connected by spiral staircases). Not as small as these Japanese houses, but they still are about building up instead of out.
With the earthquakes that Japan gets, I think I'd rather be in a 344 sq ft house than a larger building.
In my townhouse community in Alexandria, VA, the footprint of each house is approximately 450 sq. ft. Much to my surprise, there are a lot of families who live in the neighborhood. Each house has three very modest sized bedrooms on the second floor. Two bedrooms that can, at most, fit a qn bed, nightstands and MAYBE a chest of drawers. The third bedrooms can fit a twin bed, one nightstand and that's all.
The houses were built between 1951-1953 for military families.
Reading this post on these small Japanese houses, I think 350 square feet over two or three levels is definitely liveable.
I curious about the language "a growing number . . " -- as they have been doing this in Tokyo for centuries!
One of my friends has the top floor of a 2 story house in Tokyo -- each level was a 2 room flat -- and below him lived a family with 2 boys. total space was about 450 sq ft. The two main rooms were both multi-purpose, with lots of storage for futon and clothing. The kitchen an bath were both miniscule, but so efficiently laid out. There are MANY lessons to be learned from Japanese living arrangements!
ahem -- "I AM curious . . ."
I think that we are used to lots and lots of SQFT but we really use much less than than... It will be nice to have a properly designed small place. Less to clean and no empty space going to waste.
Ahem, a few words: Highest suicide rate in the world.
Sure the Japanese live small, but they would leave large if they could.
Thats a bedroom on the left is it? - that empty room with one red chair in it? - hmmmm...
Having lived in Japan for nearly 3 years in the late 90's, I would definitely ditto Saebe's comment. My Japaneses friends talked about living large all the time. If they could they defintely would. The tiny motif in Japan is nothing new.
And let's not front like the Japanese have it down. Ventilation, cooling and heating systems--suck. The visual design is quite nice but I'm sure whoever lives in these spaces freezes like a MF in the winter.
Having lived in Japan for nearly 3 years in the late 90's, I would definitely ditto Saebe's comment. My Japaneses friends talked about living larger all the time. If they could they defintely would. The "tiny" motif in Japan is nothing new.
And let's not front like the Japanese architects and developers have it down. Ventilation, cooling and heating systems--not so much. The visual design is quite nice but I'm sure whoever lives in these spaces freezes like WHOA! in the winter.
T,
Your edited version is most welcome. Two thumbs for your attempt to change the language to a more civil tone. Readers... please note that the point was still communicated in a clear and concise fashion.
Domoarigato-
Huh. I kind of liked the first one better.
i used to live in hong kong before i came to california, hong kong has almost the same living condition as tokyo, except we doesn;'t hv earthquake, so we can built our apartment up to 60 stories~ crazy huh~ tokyo is kinda dangerous for building tall like that~by the way, my frd lives in a 100sq. ft. apartment in hong kong~ so, i guess tokyo is larger~! although apartment is small, but i like it that way becoz u wouldn't waste any space, more cozy, and good challenge for designers~^^
Having lived in Washington DC for 5 years I empathize with the folks in Japan. It sounds like my sudio was twice as big as what these folks are trying to live in! I'm big on efficiency but at 6'2" I dont think I could really use the some of those "rooms" esp. the soundproof one [1.4m wide? LOL i couldn't turn around!] But the "open staircase" combined with some solar/heat rentention could turn these into a highly efficient home.