Archinect - News

Japan's disposable housing culture

2018-03-22T13:48:00-04:00

[...] the value of the average Japanese house depreciates to zero in 22 years. (It is calculated separately from the land, which is more likely to hold its value.) Most are knocked down and rebuilt. Sales of new homes far outstrip those of used ones, which usually change hands in the expectation that they will be demolished and replaced. In America and Europe second-hand houses accounted for 90% of sales and new-builds for 10% in 2017. In Japan the proportions are the other way around.

The Economist article describes Japan’s throwaway housing culture as a phenomenon that is not only a burden on the national economy and the environment but also does not see renovation and refurbishment of existing structures as an appreciation in value.

There are exceptions of course: one rare example of an upgraded old structure is this Kyoto guest house makeover by B.L.U.E. Architecture Studio, published on Archinect earlier this month.

Japan's disposable home culture is an environmental and financial headache

2014-05-05T13:48:00-04:00

That's because, as the economists Richard Koo and Masaya Sasaki show in a report, 15 years after being built the average house is worth nothing. [...] "It's not environmentally sustainable but also not financially sustainable. People work very hard to pay off a mortgage that's ultimately worth zero." [...] It has also produced a huge number of architects, who are kept busy by buyers wanting a new house that reflects their lifestyle.

Disposable architecture?

2014-04-17T13:23:00-04:00

I’d asked Stokes whether the technology challenges of designing a building to last 100+ years are more difficult today than they were in, say, 1900 — or if it’s as difficult, just different. He said the challenges might be more difficult today, but regardless, maybe technology is changing the solution: we shouldn’t try to design buildings today to last 100 years, but design them so they’ll last for, say, 20 years and then be replaced.