Drawing upon the sparse tranquility of Japanese design, architect and Tokyo resident Azby Brown explains how to live comfortably in limited or overcrowded domains. By rethinking our approach to space, utilizing seemingly dead areas (under-floor or under-stairs storage, for example), creating multipurpose or convertible areas, and reconsidering layout, we can make the most of what we have. Some of these homes carry Eastern minimalism to an extreme that clutter-prone Westerners may not be comfortable with, but there are plenty of ingenious furniture, storage, and planning solutions nevertheless. --Amy Handy
The Japanese have the ability to live in small spaces yet make them appear roomy and tranquil. Brown, a New Orleans native and Ph.D. candidate in architecture who has lived in Japan for more than a decade, examines their homes and lifestyles to find ideas that can be adapted to Western homes. This book is geared to the professional, although amateurs will find useful ideas such as closets with shelves in the doors, under-the-floor storage, and even a bed that retracts into the ceiling. For space-saving ideas in traditional Western styles, Anoop Parikh's Making the Most of Small Spaces (Rizzoli, 1994) will be more useful, but this book should find a place in professional and urban-area libraries.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Review
"This book is an elegant jewel box of ingenious design ideas for close-packing the elements of comfortable, even luxurious, living." —Stewart Brand
"Azby Brown's book presents an attitude toward designing space that inspires creative solutions....He shows us ways to bring order and tranquility back into our lives." —Fine Homebuilding
"Small Spaces has some dazzling answers: most simple and colorful, all imaginative and practical. Invaluable." —House & Garden
About the Author
AZBY BROWN is an architect who has lived in Japan since 1985. A native of New Orleans, he received a bachelor's degree in f ine art from Yale College in 1980, and a master's degree in architecture from the University of Tokyo, where he is currently a Ph.D. candidate, in 1988. He is also the author
of The Genius of Japanese Carpentry and The Japanese Dream House: How Technology and Tradition Are Shaping New Home Design. His visual and verbal ideas have reached a wide international audience through frequent lectures, publications, and exhibitions.
YOSHIO SHIRATORI has photographed interiors and exteriors since 1962. He was the recipient of the Interior Designers' Association prize in 1987. Shiratori's work appears in major Japanese design and architecture magazines throughout Japan.
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Introduction: Compact, Comfortable, Convenient
Home is where the heart is. Our homes become part of us, shape us, and reflect our desires and habits to a far greater degree than most of us realize. And despite the potential pleasure our homes can provide, few people are satisfied with their living spaces. Many of us can live without fashionable furniture, new appliances, or multiple bathrooms. But none of us wants to live without comfort, and comfort often depends upon SPACE.
Ahh, space. Adequate space, generous space, liberating space--this is exactly what most of us lack, and, if current trends continue, coming decades will see more people living in less space in urban areas the world over. This should not be cause for despair. What this book intends to do is to demonstrate that limitations imposed by lack of space can largely be overcome by intelligent design, and that compactness in the home can in fact become a virtue. Indeed, this book would like to suggest that compactness, comfort, and convenience go hand-in-hand.
Some of the ideas presented here may seem extreme at first glance, but all were selected with current Western lifestyles in mind. Many will be immediately attractive to those living in studio or one-bedroom apartments; others will appeal to families whose members are growing faster than their living quarters. Most can be adapted to existing space--retrofits, so to speak--while a few may inspire those people planning new homes. All have as their goal increased comfort--mental and physical--and greater pleasure in the home.
"What's the trick?" you may ask. Well, most of the ideas presented in this book come from Japan. Japan, whose urban areas are among the densest in the world, has a long tradition of dealing with limited space, so much so that it can be said to be second nature for architects, designers, and homeowners alike. The so-called rabbit hutches are fast becoming a thing of the past. The intelligence, cleverness, and refinement with which the well-designed contemporary Japanese home utilizes space can be astonishing, and the pace of development of new ideas and techniques can best be described as feverish. And, fortunately for us, most can be put to good use in the Western home as well.
The fact is, the contemporary Japanese home has become very "Western," so most of the ideas shown here won't seem particularly "Japanese." Although many of the more intelligent aspects of new Japanese homes derive from older Asian traditions, most Japanese of today switch easily from one mode of life to the other--from sitting at the dinner table for a meal to, say, sitting on the floor to watch television; from knife and fork to chopsticks. At the same time Western life absorbs more and more "Oriental" influence--from cushions on the floor for lounging to compact stereo components and teacups without handles. This makes the adaptation of ideas easier in either direction.
](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41EAuLw9DWL._AC_UL160_SR160,160_.jpg)
