It was only a matter of time until Muji—the Japanese retailer that’s mastered the art of selling minimal, affordable, design-forward products for the home—would design a micro apartment of their own.
Muji, after all, is one of the most popular chains in Japan, where kyosho jutaku, a trend toward smaller houses, has for years driven real estate developers to create tinier, more inventive homes. Some are even as small as a parking space.
At first blush, the thought of buying your home from the same place you found a bathroom wastebasket is ludicrous. But Muji isn’t like other chains. When it opened in the 1980s it was a little like Uniqlo for the home—its products were understaetd, reasonably priced, and designed in-house. It championed transparent packaging and generating less product waste long before popular products like KIND bars or Nike FlyKnit ever existed. Muji also skipped heavy branding, and relied on word of mouth and reliable merchandise, instead of advertising, to drum up sales. Today, it’s kept to its minimalist looks, but has expanded to include apps, loungewear, food, and of course, apartments.
Muji’s vertical Tokyo apartment is a three-story prefab unit. It eschews ceilings and walls for an airy space connected by a couple of staircases. The first floor houses utilities and storage, the second floor has a dining room and living room, and the third floor is reserved for bedrooms. The insulated apartment has only one air conditioning unit on the third floor, presumably because heat rises, making the home more energy efficient than houses with several extra appliances.
Muji’s vertical Tokyo apartment is a three-story prefab unit. It eschews ceilings and walls for an airy space connected by a couple of staircases. The first floor houses utilities and storage, the second floor has a dining room and living room, and the third floor is reserved for bedrooms. The insulated apartment has only one air conditioning unit on the third floor, presumably because heat rises, making the home more energy efficient than houses with several extra appliances.
In the United States, micro-apartments started getting media love in 2012, when then-New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg announced the adAPT NYC Competition. The program tasked designers and architects with the challenge of designing a clever, livable, 300-square-feet apartment. The winning model by nARCHITECTS will be used for new apartment buildings in Manhattan’s Kips Bay neighborhood. San Francisco, Boston, and Chicago have also launched development initiatives to build apartments that don’t sprawl beyond the 300 square foot mark.
Still, these projects look quaint (or the opposite?) compared to the Japanese real estate market. As Japanese architect Yasuhiro Yamashita told NPR a few years back, space has been a premium in Tokyo for years, putting pressure on designers to dream up new and sometime peculiar ways of using small plots. Some homes might have curtains instead of proper bathroom walls, for instance, or skylights instead of eye-level windows. Muji’s vertical home isn’t as weird as some other Japanese apartments, but that shouldn’t matter: the unconventional design ethos means that apartments in Japan are viewed as depreciating assets, instead of investments, like they are in the United States. Plus, if you’re going to buy a prefab home, why not trust Muji, purveyor of all things simple, efficient and affordable?
source: wired.com By Margaret Rhodes
Still, these projects look quaint (or the opposite?) compared to the Japanese real estate market. As Japanese architect Yasuhiro Yamashita told NPR a few years back, space has been a premium in Tokyo for years, putting pressure on designers to dream up new and sometime peculiar ways of using small plots. Some homes might have curtains instead of proper bathroom walls, for instance, or skylights instead of eye-level windows. Muji’s vertical home isn’t as weird as some other Japanese apartments, but that shouldn’t matter: the unconventional design ethos means that apartments in Japan are viewed as depreciating assets, instead of investments, like they are in the United States. Plus, if you’re going to buy a prefab home, why not trust Muji, purveyor of all things simple, efficient and affordable?
source: wired.com By Margaret Rhodes
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