NEVER TOO SMALL - Japanese Artist’s Unique Open Air Family Home, Tokyo 57sqm/613sqft

A small house is similar to a boat. Ever since I was a child, I have longed to live in a camper or on a ship. Ships are designed to live comfortably in a small space. The actual fastening devices used are the same as those used on a sail boat. My name is Zajirogh and I am an artist and architect I live in this house with my wife and 3 children The house is located in Zempukuji, Tokyo This place is located where there are many manga artists and artists. The neighbourhood is residential I want to

make the house so simple white box. When a child imagines a house it looks like a pentagon shape so that's how I wanted it. Our family loves to camp outdoors so we wanted a house where we could live under blue sky. New houses in this area are required to comply with strict size regulations, in order to get around this restriction I decided not to have a roof over the living room and turned that part of the house into a courtyard. On the lower floor inside the sliding glass door is the kitchen ba

throom and toilet. A staircase leads up to the upper floor which contains study bedroom, and balconies. Japanese entrances are generally small and always get crowded when everybody’s leaving at once. So we combined the entrance with the living room, so when you enter the house you are in a large open area. A small line on the ground, separates from the living room. There’s a drainage around the edge for the rain. By the entrance, storage holds coats, shoes and other items. We also have storage b

ehind the steel door, to hide items we don’t want to show, like vacuum cleaners or cleaning items. The living room is located just inside the front door and has no roof. The floor is concrete which is great for both indoor and outdoor use. I wanted the walls to be lined with fun colours. The living room also has a large glass door to protect my TV and piano from the weather. Beside the piano and TV, there is a storage for household items. I prefer to have my things lined up on the walls because

they are more interesting to me. We choose our furniture from camping goods So we can move it quick and it’s okay with the rain when it gets wet. Things that we don't want to get wet, we put them on the side. In the summer with the top on The cool air from the air conditioner keeps the living room cool. The living room gets cold in winter So we added heated floors in this area. it uses hot water to keep the ground warm and it feels great on the bear foot. The dining room and kitchen are indoors

with a large sliding glass door that opens to create a united space with the living room. The kitchen is L-shaped with a cermaic top. On one side there is a stainless steel sink a gas cooktop a stainless steel range hood and a fish grill. on the other side there’s lots of open storage for kitchen items and lots of space to prepare meals We added yellow doors to hide away less attractive items We also use the space under the stairs. In the center of the kitchen there’s a large dining table which

is needed for a family of five We added 3 pendant lights above which can be turned on individually with switches on the cord. To save table space we hang our bluetooth speakers above the table. This speaker outputs the audio from the TV on the other side of the living room. The bathroom is on the lower floor, on the other side of the kitchen. with 5 people using the bathroom in the morning, it makes sense to have the vanity separate from the bathroom so we can all use them at once. The toilet wa

s positioned under the stairs to maximize space. The laundry room has a washer and separate dryer above. This room serves multiple purposes. It's a place to wash clothes, a place to store clothes, and also we can change after you take a bath. The bathroom is typical of Japanese wet rooms. There is a space to sit or stand for a shower, and also bathtub. The bathtub faces the courtyard. With a window that looks out to the entrance and the living room. when the weather is nice, the Sun comes throug

h the open roof into the bathtub. When privacy is needed there is a curtain that can be used. At the end of the stairs on the upper floor there is another toilet even though the house is small, we needed to have 2 toilets for 5 persons. The upper floor toilet has custom door that also doubles as the door to the upper floor. There is a small office and entertainment area where my wife works during the day. and the children watch TV and play Switch when they finish school. In the corner of this sp

ace there is a small study for me It is only about 1 square metre. I fill it with shelves and desk and it is my little sanctuary where I draw and create. In the evening my wife and I lay futon here and this becomes our bedroom. It may be a bit strange for people outside of Japan but sleeping on futons on the floor is very common in Japan. It allows us to have rooms that provide multiple functions. The kid’s bedroom is on the other side of the upper floor. They sleep in the loft above and share a

large desk. The large windows bring lots of natural light into the study and bedroom rooms. We added a lot of storage for books, toys and household items, maximising wall space and height. The bookshelf in the bedroom becomes the stairs for the kids to climb up on to the loft. There are 3 windows here and in the future we will divide this space into 3 separate rooms so the children have a bit more privacy. from the kids bedroom there’s an access to some storage above the study. There is access

to the balcony that wraps around the open roof we added the same glass storage from the entrance up here for our clothes. I even set up a small desk on the balcony So I have place to paint and not worry if I make a mess. This is also where I can open and close the roof. The neighbourhood is residential, It is a great place for family with a large park, school and shops within walking distance. Being my own client I can do anything. like no roof, so that was cool. So now I have this example so I

can show to other clients. Thanks for watching, and if you’re an architect or designer with a project we could feature please share it with us at NeverTooSmall.com/submissions