MUJI HOUSE, the architectural entity of Japanese design brand Muji, recently released their latest prefab house in Tokyo called the Vertical House. The slender 3-story structure was primarily designed for urban dwellers living within Tokyo's tight living spaces.
Designed with simple white walls and wooden flooring, the house exhibits the same contemporary minimal aesthetic that Muji's products continue to gain popularity for. The house was built with a timber framework method and an open plan interior with no doors or interior walls. The house also features a kitchen and dining area, a living room, bedroom, bathroom, and large windows that allow for ample sunlight.
Muji isn't entirely new to the prefab house scene. The company worked with prominent Japanese architects like Kengo Kuma for the Window House in 2008 followed by the Tree House in 2009. Muji then worked with Shigeru Ban for the Furniture House during the House Vision 2013 Tokyo Exhibition.
Product details:
Name: Vertical House plan 02 (frontage 3.185m × depth 8.19m)
Structure and scale: Wooden construction method (SE construction method), three-story Building area: 26.08 m2 (7.89 square meters)
Floor area: first floor: 26.08 m2, second floor: 26.08 m2, third floor: 15.94 m2
Total floor area: 68.10 m2 (20.60 square meters)
Price: Standard specification body construction price: 1,917 yen (consumption tax)
Find more photos in the image gallery below.
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6 Comments
The price is a steal! Actual price is just below $240,000 USD, not to mention the price of property in the greater Tokyo region. I don't think this is prefab in the classic sense as an entirely finished system that is just clicked together on site. It's more of an evolution of classic Japanese timber frame construction techniques designing, placing, and constructing all members and connections in the shop, then connecting them onsite. I've watched a lot of Japanese television shows showcasing this type of system, and It never ceases to impress. Generally 3-4 guys (all over the age of 50) can frame up an entire house like this in a day or two. Eliminating the vertical partitions is just another way of streamlining the process, and with the way the home is programmed vertically, interior walls are unnecessary. Anyway, dig the house. Actual Vertical House website ---> HERE (Japanese)
A little more reading into their other prefab offerings makes me wonder if anyone in the States has tried to run with the idea of a prefab timber frame house. Seems like it would lend itself well to an open floor plan (among other things of course), and with plentiful wood products in the US it should be a feasible system.
^ timber frame kits exist in the US - this for example. Lots of other providers around, mostly doing this kind of vernacular style for the typical owners who want some dream home in the middle of nowhere.
They're not that cheap though - $200/sf and up once all the site work and finishing is done. That mainly is why they haven't caught on everywhere.
At $240,000 for approximately 700/sf, Muji's prefab comes to $342/sf - excluding land and site work! Is that affordable in Japan?
The main challenge for kit houses like this is that they're priced at a level where owners could consider building a custom house - who would want a standard kit when you could build custom?
I was kidding about the price, it seems like a lot, but the Japanese take pride in having expensive things. I think I'm thinking more a long the lines of a custom kit. I know the Muji kit isn't exactly custom, there are variants to the standard if you look at their website, however, it seems to be standard practice in Japan that if you hire an architect to build a new house, you still get a truckload of precut timber with shop connections and an instruction manual to put it together. Muji may be a brand name that people will pay for, but from what I've seen in the past with fully custom "kit" houses, people get a very high level of finish, a well built house, and exactly what they want for a fairly reasonable price.
This is average cost by japanese standards, not high not low. Definitely not high end, nothing in Muji is high end. Its famous for being medium cost but with nice-ish design. Their products are not overly durable but neither do they fall apart with a bit of use either. They are pretty good at balancing cost versus quality.
Land in tokyo for this house would be about 3 to 5 times the cost of the building, depending on where it is located. A million dollar home is average/low end. In suburbs things become more reasonable in terms of land at least. Outside Tokyo the land could be lower than the cost of the house, or close to it...
FWIW, prefab is the standard model of construction here, so this is coming into a very crowded market (on the cheaper end though, i would say, once all is said and done). Custom homes are a small segment, and would normally be quite a lot more. MUJI is not really competing with architects at this price range, except some special cases.
My point of reference is the "Dreamhouse" series on TV in Japan. I just find it a fascinating process, designing a prefab timber frame, as well as the building of those structures. It might seem old hat to you, but it's pretty cool to me. It does seem a luxury to have a single family dwelling though, so I guess pricing would be in line with the perception. My in-laws have a mansion in Shin-Yokohama that they've been in for 30+ years, and as much as they paid for that, I can't really imagine how much a detached dwelling in the same area would be.
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