Future Living: Collective Housing in Japan

Living in a house designed according to individual desires is a life dream for many people. But with models for family and society transforming, particularly in urban context, this wish is sometimes difficult to accommodate. Moreover, as a rule a freestanding residence means high consumption of space, raw materials, and energy per person.

In Japan in recent years, architects have been developinng homes for collective iving with the potetntial to offer alternatives to the single-family home. In buildings and spaces that contribute to the formation of identity, the residents can find individual fulfillment; the architecture makes community possible but does not impose closeness.

Future Living presents twenty-five examples of such residential architecture from Japan. Clear plans and large-format photographs supplement the texts on the projects and make it easier to understand the designs, which offer prospects on the possibilities and opportunities of living together in the future. In addition. the introduction by the Japanologist Evelyn Schulz explains fundamental cultural aspects of collective living in the Japanese metropolis since the seventeenth century.