The Very Small Home - Japanese Ideas for Living Well in Limited Space

The Very Small Home - Japanese Ideas for Living Well in Limited Space

The Very Small Home is an inspiring book that surveys the creative design innovations of small houses in Japan. Eighteen recently built and unusual houses, from ultramodern to Japanese rustic, are presented in depth. Particular emphasis is given to what the author calls the "big idea" for each house—the thing that does the most to make the home feel more spacious than it actually is. Big ideas include ingenious sources of natural light, well thought-out loft spaces, snug but functional kitchens, unobtrusive partitions, and unobstructed circulation paths.

An introduction puts the houses in the context of lifestyle trends and highlights their shared characteristics. The Houses section details each project the intentions of the designers and occupants are explained. The result is a very human sensibility that runs through the book, a glimpse of the dreams and aspirations that these unique homes represent and that belies their apparent modesty. The second half of the book is devoted to illustrating the special features in the homes, from storage and kitchen designs to revolutionary skylights and partitions.

Building small can be a sign of higher ambitions, and those who read this book will undoubtedly grow to appreciate that building a small home can be an amazingly positive and creative act, one which can enhance one’s life in surprising ways. In The Very Small Home, Brown has given home owners, designers, and architects a fascinating new collection of ideas.

Reviews

"Azby Brown has done it again. I loved his first book, Small Spaces, and this one goes further yet in helping to demystify the art of the small house. The book is a must for anyone wanting to understand how to do more with less when it comes to home design. These tiny and exquisitely designed contemporary Japanese homes have so many lessons to teach readers around the world about how to make their homes both functional and beautiful, whatever the size. And as for the quality of the houses illustrated, they're extraordinary. I, for one, couldn't put the book down, and I suspect it will have the same effect on a great many readers." —Sarah Susanka, AIA architect and author of The Not So Big House series and Home By Design

"As houses get smaller, their space gets more intense. People are nearly insatiable in their hunger for urban nesting places, and here we see that marvelously expressed."—Toyo Ito

"Inspiring... the volume is so full of ingenious ideas that it's a good bet for anyone trying to maximize the space and light of a small residence... But the most impressive aspect of all these homes is the bright, airy feeling they manage to convey within in their tiny confines... Brown's excellent textual commentary will help readers bring those important ideas into their own homes." —Publishers Weekly

About the author

AZBY BROWN is a native of New Orleans, and has lived in Japan since 1985. A widely published author and authority on Japanese architecture, design, and environment, his groundbreaking writings on traditional Japanese carpentry, compact housing, and traditional sustainable practices of Japan are recognized as having brought these fields to the awareness of Western designers and the general public. His books include The Very Small Home (2005), Just Enough: Lessons in living green from traditional Japan (2010), and The Genius of Japanese Carpentry (2014). He joined the Faculty of Architecture at the Kanazawa Institute of Technology in 1995. In 2003 he founded the KIT Future Design Institute in Tokyo, focussing on cognitive and cultural issues surrounding the human hand and its use in the creative process, conducting collaborative research with neuroscientists and perceptual psychologists on the neurobiology of the hand and hand-based creativity and communication. His creative work has been widely exhibited at galleries and museums internationally.

Since the start of Fukushima Nuclear Powerplant disaster in March 2011, Azby has been a core member of Safecast, a highly successful global volunteer-based citizen-science organization devoted to developing new technology platforms for crowdsourced environmental monitoring which promote open-source and open data principles. He is Safecast’s lead researcher, and is primary author of the Safecast Report, closely involved with assisting affected communities and analyzing and reporting the issues they face. A sought-after speaker on both Japanese culture and the scientific and social consequences of disaster response, Azby is frequently quoted by major media outlets who seek a credible, critical, and independent voice to counter partisan talking points.