They began with a study of "pet sites," which occur as very small areas of land left over by redevelopments, roads, etcetera, are used.
Interestingly, this is beginning to happen in Vancouver, too. The Sam Kee building in Chinatown is famous as the narrowest building in North America.
And Ryan and I came across this very narrow wedge-shaped starbucks in Richmond over a year ago.
But Tokyo pushes these limits far more than Vancouver does (yet).
This house, which was designed after the studio's study of these "pet sites," is built around a staircase. There are no true "rooms" with separate doors, but every landing contains a room with varying degrees of privacy.
Atelier Bow-Wow is studying more unusual building types that arise as Tokyo grows and pushes outward. One such type is the development of new fire-resistant commercial "fortresses" around very old wooden residential areas to protect them. And suburban lots are beginning to be subdivided as the city expands and living costs rise. According to the article, development in Tokyo is fairly low-rise, and redevelopments create narrow streets and narrow building projects like the ones seen above.
1 comment:
It is true that as land becomes more scarce)or property values skyrocket) infill buildings will come to occupy unimaginable tight spaces. But why not? I don't see a big problem with density. Originally the suburbs were thought as an escape from the closeness of living in a dense city environment. One where everyone has a yard surrounding their house, etc etc. But in reality, its hard to find new suburbs now that aren't building to the maximum setbacks and really, you are never more than 12' from your neighbour it seems. Anyways, sounds like an interesting study into what humans can live in. I currently find 4-500 sq'ft plenty big for 2 people.......
(on a side note, the Sam Kee building is not a new building, though maybe you didn't mean that and it just sounds like it)
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