Six Foot Wide Japanese House is “where people and cats live happily”
July 14, 2015 | Source – Six Foot Wide Japanese House is “where people and cats live happily”
It’s called the 1.8 M House, designed by YUAA architects to fit on a lot 2.5 meters (8′-4″) by 11 meters deep (36′-1″) yielding an interior average of 1.8 meters or six feet. It’s only 80.42 square meters (865 SF) Yet as Designboom notes, it “has managed to reserve, arrange and maximize the space available to evoke a sense of openess while preserving privacy for the inhabitants and family cat.”
© The architects write on Architizer:
In this project, we have considered a house as an aggregation of small places and designed a space where such “places” expanded in various floor levels. Floating floors in long and narrow space generate the spatial expanse. Light and fresh air which taken in from openings of frontage and upper side of the building flows into every corner of the house, utilizing the floor difference.
© Light and air brings psychological utility, and deep and calm color gives sense of depth to the space. Texture of materials, such as scaffolding boards and marble dust paintings will be an accent to interior of the house. Open shelves placed around the stairs and in the kitchen will provide the spatial openness. Daily household goods fit naturally into the atmosphere, composing the part of interior design.
© Now I have complained about the width of shipping containers and recreational vehicles and how hard it is to live in such spaces, but this looks totally comfortable and livable. Perhaps it is the Japanese way of never really defining spaces or filling it with clutter (at least before the photographer leaves).
© I cannot figure out why that slab is so thick but I do like the effect. This house is both light and minimal while being chunky and substantial at the same time.
Structural design was developed by fully considering the singularity of the building shape. Columns and beams were limited to maximize the interior space.
© And here is our stair of the week, welded up out of plate steel and integrated with the display shelving. I will never again complain that you cannot create something totally wonderful in such a narrow space, because this truly is. More images on Architizer.
Plan and section:
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