Muji’s New Prefab Tiny House Is Just As Beautifully Designed As Its Home Goods

published Dec 22, 2019
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Credit: Muji

You may know Muji for its beautiful, minimally designed home goods, ranging from simple notebooks to essential oil diffusers to electric kettles (they also sell clothes, furniture, and snacks). But in Japan, where the shop launched before spreading across Asia, Europe, and North America, Muji also sells prefabricated tiny homes, including its most recent design, appropriately named Yo no Ie (translation: Plain House).

Credit: Muji

The one-story, 80-square-foot house costs the equivalent of $150,000, and it incorporates Muji’s simple yet impeccable design sense. With its light-colored Japanese cedar wood and large windows, it fills with light, looking more spacious than it sounds.

“The house is unique in its ability to accommodate a wide range of generations and provide more choices for places to live,” said Muji in a press release. It features “an adjustable design meant to accommodate MUJI products,” like the bed and table shown in the photos.

Credit: Muji

Yo no Ie is Muji’s fourth prefabricated home. It follows Ki no Ie (Tree House, 2004), Mado no Ie (Window House, 2008), and Tate no Ie (Vertical House, 2010). Unlike its predecessors, the latest Muji-designed house is one story. It was designed that way for a specific reason, Dwell writes: “Created with Japan’s aging population in mind, the low-maintenance and stair-free Yō no Ie House is perfectly positioned as a home for retirees.”

Credit: Muji

We’d love to live somewhere this beautiful as seniors. In fact, we’d love it right now, too. For now, the house is only available in Japan. “Muji currently sells around 300 prefab buildings a year,” reports Dwell, “a number that is expected to increase with its newest model.”