Skip to main content

This Tiny Concrete Home in Tokyo Feels a Lot Bigger Than It Is

As the world’s most populous cities struggle with a housing shortage, more and more architects are getting creative with buildings that maximize space on small pieces of land.

This holds true for R torso C house, an award-winning, cleverly designed home from Tokyo-based architectural firm Atelier TEKUTO. The private residence, which sits on a corner plot in Tokyo that is just 66 square meters (or 216 square feet), makes use of an angular shape and high ceilings to create the illusion of a spacious home inside and out. With a very small 337 square feet of floor space, Atelier TEKUTO packed as much as they could into this “micro-house”.

Architect Yasuhiro Yamashita is no stranger to tiny houses; the firm specializes in creating structures that take advantage of every last inch of available space. But he had to get really creative with R torso C. The couple wanted a home that had the traditional spaces like a living room, dining room, and “Japanese room,” but they also needed a gallery space and an insulated audio visual space — all while remaining environmentally friendly.

The final layout is four floors of glass and concrete that reaches into the sky. The main level holds the gallery and Japanese room, which features a tatami mat floor. The second floor holds the living room, dining room, kitchen, and bathroom. In the small living room, the ceiling is double the usual height to create a sense of openness in a tight space. A large triangular window lets light flood the room, making it feel bright and airy. The top level houses the couple’s bedroom, and the audio visual room was tucked into the basement, which helped aid in the sound-proofing.

The home was designed as one continuous vertical volume. This, combined with open tread staircases, allows maximum light to reach all corners of the home, including the basement level.

To create a concrete home that felt open, the team developed a 100-percent recyclable concrete made from shirasu instead of sand. Shirasu is a special volcanic ash deposit created from pyroclastic flow and is found all over southern Japan. Special micro closed-cells give the shirasu a unique property: it creates concrete that can control humidity and deodorize the air, both of which are important features in humid, crowded Tokyo.

Editors' Recommendations

Kelsey Machado
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Kelsey is a professional interior designer with over a decade of experience in the design field. With a passion for…
The Ghostbusters have a new ride in Frozen Empire, courtesy of Mercedes Benz
Mercedes Benz Sprinter plays a pivotal role in Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire
The ECTO-Z makes its debut in Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire.

Later this month, the Ghostbusters will be back on the big screen in Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire. And while three generations of the team are coming together, there is a big addition to the crew: The ECTO-Z. At an event in New York City, Mercedes-Benz officially unveiled the Ghostbusters' new ride, which is a customized Mercedes-Benz Sprinter that follows in the footsteps of the iconic ECTO-1 from the first three films.

Given the larger size of the second and third-generation Ghostbusters team, it was only natural that they would need a vehicle that could carry all of them to the scene of a haunting anywhere in NYC. As for the name, it comes from original team member Dr. Winston Zeddemore, as played by Ernie Hudson. Ghostbusters: Afterlife established that Zeddemore is now the financial backer of the Ghostbusters and the de facto leader of the team.

Read more
Everything points to Apple TV+ making a change you’re not going to like
Is an ad-supported tier coming to Apple TV+?
The Apple TV Plus Logo

It turns out that TV worked pretty well under its old model. According to a new report from Business Insider, Apple TV+ may be the latest streaming service that's set to introduce an ad-supported tier and charge those who don't stream with ads a premium fee to access their great shows and movies.

At this point, the report is still speculation, but Apple has made several recent hires in the advertising space that seem to suggest the direction they're planning to take. The company recently hired former NBCUniversal ad executive Joseph Cady to serve as executive vice president of advanced advertising and partnerships, a move that comes following the company's hiring of another former NBCUniversal executive, Jason Frum, who joined Apple's video ad sales team.

Read more
From Gilda Radner to Ali Wong, these are the best female comedians of all time
These women from all generations will make you laugh out loud
Ai Wong comedian 2017 Moontower comedy festival

Hot take: I don’t care for straight male comedians. It’s not that they’re not funny, they’re just … I don’t know, boring? Maybe that’s reductive of me, but I never seem to leave a straight male comedian’s set feeling particularly inspired. And though some may argue that it’s not important for a set to "inspire" its audience, I’d actually argue that the opposite is true. For me, I want to see a comedian use humor to address real issues and say real things about the world, even if they do it in a completely goofy way.

Therefore, I tend to prefer female and female-identified comedians. They’re sharp, tough, and have often seen shit that makes their comedy feel raw and true. Undoubtedly there are male comedians who do this, too, but to a much lesser degree, in my very humble and very personal opinion.

Read more