Living Large In Really Tiny Houses
The Japanese have long endured crowded cities and scarce living space, with homes so humble a scornful European official once branded them rabbit hutches.
But in recent years, Japanese architects have turned necessity into virtue, vying to design unorthodox and visually stunning houses on remarkably narrow pieces of land. In the process, they are also redefining the rules of home design.
Few Americans would consider a parking-space-sized lot as an adequate site to build a house. But in Japan, homes are rising on odd parcels of land, some as tiny as 300 square feet.
Yet the term “house” doesn’t really do justice to these eye-catching architectural gems, fashioned from a high-tech palate of materials like glittering glass cubes, fiber reinforced plastic and super-thin membranes of steel.
More With Less
The need to do more with less space has sparked a boom in house designs that are as playful and witty as they are livable. One of Japan’s leading designers of kyosho jutaku, or ultra-small homes, is Tokyo architect Yasuhiro Yamashita.
“People tend to think of homes simply in terms of floor space. We architects think in 3-D.” Yasuhiro Yamashita, Tokyo architect
“If you tried to build a normal house on a super-small plot of land, it would end up being really cramped. So in order to make the house as roomy as possible, we have to think up new structures and assembly,” Yamashita says.
Ultra-small homes conserve space by dumping conventional elements like entranceways, hallways, inner walls and closets.
Windows, in a variety of shapes and sizes, are scattered across a wall, or concealed near the base. A bathroom is separated by just a curtain. Furniture can be folded into the wall, allowing a single room to serve multiple purposes.
Designers indulge in fantasy, like asymmetrical walls, cantilevered floors, or cover their houses in a translucent skin, in order to exploit all available natural light.
Yamashita built a long, skinny, cathedral-like futuristic home on a sliver of land just 40-feet wide, and named it “Lucky Drops.” || Read more »
Rapid Transit Planning
We’ve come a long way since the early years of the 20th century. Yet even back then, the Charlotte region depended on transit to carry the city into the future. Early trolley lines fostered the growth of neighborhoods rather than sprawling subdivisions, allowing communities such as Myers Park, Plaza-Midwood, Wilmore and Dilworth to flourish. In the more recent past, after careful study, extensive public input and thoughtful consideration, citizens of Mecklenburg County approved the half-cent sales tax in 1998 to support the vision outlined in the 2025 Integrated Transit/Land Use Plan.
Through the 2025 Integrated Transit/Land Use Plan, many improvements have been made including the enhancement of customer amenities, expanded bus routes, improved services and advancements in the rapid transit program and construction of the LYNX light rail line.
In 2006, the Metropolitan Transit Commission (MTC) adopted the 2030 Transit Corridor System Plan, furthering the vision outlined in the 2025 Integrated Transit/Land Use Plan. The 2030 Transit Corridor System Plan will help focus future growth along five primary transportation corridors, linking our area’s key centers of economic activity. In other words, transit is once again taking us into the future. || Read more »
Smart, Environmentally Friendly Packaging Ideas
Did you know that packaging constitutes as much as one-third of the non-industrial waste stream, which is why 28 countries have laws designed to minimize that waste? Unfortunately, the U.S. is not among them, according to www.idealbite.com.
To ship your holidays gifts the smart way, consider these tips that will help reduce what ends up in our landfills:
- Instead of throwing away the shreds you get when using a paper shredder, use them to fill packages you send in the mail. It doesn’t cost anything, it can be recycled and it’s an environmentally safer product than Styrofoam.
- Save cash by reusing. Boxes can cost a few bucks each. Avoid buying new ones by reusing the ones sent to you.
- If you don’t have old boxes to reuse, insist on mailing boxes that use 10% to 30% recycled paper.
- Ship early to avoid shipping by air. Energy costs for sending a package for next day delivery are four times higher than the cost of ground shipping.
- Lighter means more energy-efficient (and cheaper), so make sure you’re using the right size box for the job.
- Consider using cornstarch packing peanuts. They are made from corn starch and dissolve in water leaving no toxic waste. Organic fill is static free, economical, fast and easy to use. Place them outside and they will either disappear when the birds take them to make their nests or they will melt in the next rainstorm.
- Use recycled plastic bubble wrap to cushion the contents of your package.
- Reuse plastic shopping bags or shredded newspaper and pack it around breakables.
