A couple of years ago, during the Tokyo Design Week, MUJI unveiled a range of three tiny homes designed by industrial designers Naoto Fukasawa, Jasper Morrison and Konstantin Grcic. I was fortunate enough to whiteness the event, which was held at Tokyo Mid Town. The three homes showcased by the famous industrial designers had a common theme of minimalistic living.
Continuing with this theme, this year MUJI has unveiled the tiny home called the Yō no Ie House. In many ways it’s a paradox – just like the storm that Mary Kondo kicked up, when she announced an online store on her site KonMari. The guru of neat living, selling products that can clutter your home. Likewise – the Japanese home goods brand suggesting that we live in a single-story – hiraya – one-room house, when they offer enough products that can fill up a big house.
The hiraya Style of Living
The philosophy of MUJI homes stems from their core proposition of being homes that are long-lasting, yet customizable, so that you can take advantage of modular options. The “one-room house” system comes sans interior walls so that a homeowner can change the floorplans as per their requirements.
MUJI has designed a single-story – hiraya – one-room house that, comes with a large wood deck. The immense additional space, makes it a seamless extension of the home, in a way that you could have never imagined.
The Yō no Ie House is a functional space with minimalist design throughout. It is designed in a way that will suit the needs of couples, families with kids and even the silver generation.
The Yō no Ie is more despite being minimal
The sprawling deck features a recessed area for seating and it even house a small outdoor fire pit or a BBQ pit. The home is bound by three large doors across the front, which can be left open or closed for more privacy, depending upon how inviting you want to be.
The interiors are well designed and accommodate a bed and a kitchen. It is spacious enough to house a small dining area and a living area. MUJI has gone the extra mile to brand the house as its own.
It is equipped with its own home goods, which includes a handy cube shelving unit in the bedroom, removing the need for a closet. The prefab home comes for $150,000 for 80 square feet.