Something similar has been the case in Bombay for ages.
Udhay
http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/mar2007/gb20070313_145902.htm?chan=rss_topStories_ssi_5
Japan: Micro-Homes in the Big City
Houses designed to fit on postage-stamp-sized plots offer Japanese an
affordable way to live in bustling, crowded, and hugely expensive
downtown areas
by Hiroko Tashiro
Small has always been beautiful in Japan, whether you think of the
mini-component audio systems the country pioneered in the 1970s, its
cultural love affair with miniaturized potted plants known as bonsai,
or the current rage for small-engine mini-cars. Now you can add to
the list the current home-design craze: ultra-compact micro-homes on
plots so small they could fit into the garage space of your typical,
sprawling McMansion in the U.S.
Living small is in, especially among younger Japanese with modest
budgets who no longer want to cope with the grueling commutes by
train from far-off suburbs outside Tokyo as their parents did. Demand
for ultra-compact homes, known as kyo-sho-jutaku in Japanese, is
likely a small portion right now of the $1.2 billion Japanese
currently spend on homes designed by architects.
Staying Close to Top Schools
But architects, home design magazines, and even some major Japanese
companies are starting to take notice of the trend. It is being
driven by the surprising fact that, despite Japan's already
astronomical (by international standards) land prices, the four
prefectures that comprise the Tokyo metropolitan area are among the
fastest-growing nationally.
Suitable land for housing in Tokyo is incredibly scarce, however. So
some families are hiring architects to build the tiniest homes
imaginable to live closer to the cultural amenities and excellent
school systems available in Tokyo. "Recently, an increasing number of
people, especially in their 30s and early 40s, desire to live in
central Tokyo," says Shigeru Kimura, an independent real estate agent
who specializes in micro-homes. "And more people are thinking of how
to live on a small plot of land."
Others are already based in Tokyo, clinging to a tiny patch of land,
and want to replace decades-old wooden homes with new ones, but for
the lowest cost possible. Take the case of Mayumi Takayanagi, an
electronics company engineer who had lived with her parents for about
30 years in a two-story wooden house in the central Tokyo district of Sumida.
"This Was the Tiniest"
The thought of leaving her lively and thriving downtown neighborhood
with her parents for cheaper and far more spacious housing in the
soulless, strip-mall-festooned outlying suburbs of Tokyo just wasn't
an option. So she turned to architect Satoshi Kurosaki, 36, to design
a new home for no more than $170,000 on a plot that measured only 32
square meters (or 344 sq. ft.). "I'd worked on compact houses before,
but this was the tiniest," says Kurosaki.
It wasn't easy but he came up with a design for a three-level home,
constructed with light-gauge steel, that was finished in 2004. It
features a simple but sturdy spiral staircase that runs up the center
of the home and has no dead space. Kurosaki managed to free up enough
room to design a living space for Takayanagi's father on the ground
floor and a living room, kitchen, and bedroom on the second for her
mother. The top floor is where she sleeps, and there is access to a wood deck.
Kurosaki also designed this tiny structure with big windows on the
front of the home to maximize sunlight exposure. Make no mistake: The
home is incredibly narrow and would seem claustrophobic to some. But
for Takayanagi, the new digs are just fine. "We get sunshine all the
time, which is great," she says.
Catering to the Trend
Kurosaki used to work for Japan's biggest homebuilder, Sekisui House,
and started catering to the "living small" crowd back in the late
1990s. One of his first compact homes involved building an abode on a
249 sq. ft. site that was basically a large parking space in Tokyo's
central Jimbocho neighborhood. A 27-year-old woman had inherited the
small patch of land, and Kurosaki managed to design a five-story home
on the site. These days he gets about 50 inquiries a year, mostly
from younger couples looking for new homes to sit on small parcels of land.
Other home design firms and even some major Japanese companies are
starting to take notice of the less-is-more trend in the Japanese
housing market. A Japanese factory automation equipment maker called
SUS has developed aluminum, cube-like frames called tsubomi that can
be arranged into stand-alone homes or used as attachments to existing
houses. A 27 cubic meter (952 cu. ft.) attachment costs $17,000 and
can be assembled in a single day.
Yamaha, the world's largest manufacturer of musical instruments, for
the last two years has been selling soundproof rooms that can fit
into existing homes or be added to an abode's exterior. The
standard-size unit (1.4 meters wide, 1.8 meters in depth, 2 meters
high) goes for $3,700.
Design for Irregular Lots
Yasuyuki Okazaki is founder of Tokyo-based Commdesign, which sells
custom-designed homes over the Internet that can work on tiny plots
of land measuring about 320 sq. ft. "Hitherto, a house designed by
architects was up-market" and expensive, he says. He and his team of
architects have also designed slightly larger homes for oddly shaped
strips of land, not unusual in land-scarce Tokyo.
One home design is called unagi (as in "eel") that works on long but
narrow strips of land. Another is called kado (or "corner") for a
triangular and small plot. The price of Commdesign homes ranges from
$171,000 to $214,000. (Those who need to buy land, however, will need
to spend two or even three times as much above the cost of home construction.)
Securing affordable housing likely will remain a colossal headache in
Tokyo, but micro-homes are an option for those willing to sacrifice
space for the convenience and amenities of city life. "Compact houses
can meet people's fundamental living needs," says architect Kurosaki.
It may not be for everyone, but plenty of younger Japanese seem to be
warming up to the idea.
Tokyo-based Tashiro covers Japanese design for BusinessWeek.
--
((Udhay Shankar N)) ((udhay @ pobox.com)) ((www.digeratus.com))
