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Set in Tokyo’s Suginami-ku neighbourhood, home to many manga artists, Open Sky House is home to artists and architect Zajirogh, his wife, and their three children. Having always dreamed of living in a camper or a ship, Zajirogh designed a large central open-air courtyard and covered it with a retractable sail-like sheet. The family uses the courtyard as a living room which is furnished with camping furniture that can get wet or be moved quickly if needed. A series of colourful walls line the courtyard, with precious items that need to stay dry kept behind a set of glass and steel sliding doors with another set connecting to the fully equipped L-shaped kitchen. The second story features space for the family to sleep, work and play and includes a 1sqm (small closet-sized) study that Zajirogh refers to as “his little sanctuary”. A door leading onto the balcony wraps around the open roof, this provides access to open and close the roof as well as an area for Zajirogh to paint freely without concern about mess.

#smallapartment #architecture #interiordesign

Ep 165.
Project Name: Open Sky House
Architect & owner: https://zajirogh.wixsite.com/zajirogh
Architect: https://www.ysaa.co/

Produced by New Mac Video Agency
Creator: Colin Chee
Director & Cinematographer: Nam Tran
Producer: Nam Tran
Editor: Sebastian Tibbs
Music: Let’s Go by Michael Vignola & Courage by Some Were at Sea from Artlist.io
Transcript
00:02A small house is similar to a boat. Ever since I was a child, I have longed to live in
00:10a camper
00:11or on a ship. Ships are designed to live comfortably in a small space. The actual
00:21fastening devices used are the same as those used on a sailboat. My name is Zajuwo, and I am an
00:32artist and
00:33architect. I live in this house with my wife and three children.
00:48The house is located in Zenfuku-ji, Tokyo. This place is located where there are many
00:56manga artists and artists. The neighborhood is residential. I want to make the house
01:05appear in a simple white box. When a child imagines the house, it looks like a pentagon
01:11shape, so that's how I want it. Our family love to camp outdoors, so we wanted a house
01:20where we could live under a blue sky. New houses in this area are required to comply
01:30with strict size regulations. In order to get around this restriction, I decided not
01:37to have a roof over the living room and turned that part of the house into a courtyard. On
01:43the lower floor, inside the sliding glass door is the kitchen, bathroom, and toilet. A staircase
01:52leads up to the upper floor, which contains study, bedroom, and balconies.
02:07Japanese entrances are generally small and always get crowded when everybody's living at once. So, we
02:16combine the entrance with the living room, so when you enter the house, you are in a large open area.
02:24A small line on the ground separates the entrance from the living room. There is a drainage along
02:30the edge for the rain. By the entrance, storage holds coats, shoes, and other items. We also have
02:40storage behind the steel door to hide items we don't want to show, like vacuum cleaners or cleaning items.
02:53The living room has located just inside the front door and has no roof. The floor is concrete, which is
03:02great for both indoor and outdoor use.
03:09I wanted the walls. I wanted the walls to be lined with fun colors. The living room also has a
03:16large glass door to protect my TV and piano from the weather.
03:22Besides the piano and TV, there is a storage for household items.
03:29I prefer to have my sinks lined up on the walls because they are more interesting to me.
03:36We choose our furniture from camping goods, so you can move it quick and it's okay with the rain when
03:43it's wet.
03:44Things that we don't want to get wet, we put it on the side. In the summer with the top
03:50on, the cool air from the air conditioners keeps living room cool.
03:55The living room gets cold in winter, so we added heated floors in this area. It uses hot water to
04:03heat the ground and it feels great on the barefoot.
04:07The dining room and kitchen are indoors. There's a large sliding glass doors that open to create a united space
04:15with the living room.
04:20The kitchen is L-shaped with a ceramic top.
04:26On one side, there is a stainless steel sink, a gas cooktop, a stainless steel range hood, and a fish
04:35grill.
04:38On the other side, there is lots of open storage for kitchen items and lots of space to prepare meals.
04:46We added yellow doors to hide away less attractive items. We also use the space under the stairs.
04:56In the center of the kitchen, there's a large dining table which is needed for a family of five.
05:05We added three pendant lights above which can be turned on individually with switches on the cord.
05:13To save table space, we hang our Bluetooth speakers above the table.
05:19This speaker outputs the audio from the TV on the other side of the living room.
05:27The bathroom is on the lower floor on the other side of the kitchen.
05:30With the five people using the bathroom in the mornings, it makes sense to have the vanity separate from the
05:37bathroom so we can all use them at once.
05:43The toilet was positioned under the stairs to maximize space.
05:50The laundry room has washer and separate dryer above.
05:56This room serves multiple purposes.
05:59It's a place to wash clothes, a place to store clothes, and also we can change after you take a
06:05bath.
06:08The bathroom is typical of Japanese wet rooms.
06:12There is a space to sit or stand for a shower and also bath tub.
06:18The bath tub faces the courtyard with a window that looks out to the entrance and living rooms.
06:24When the weather is nice, the sun comes from the open roof into the bath tub.
06:30In privacy is needed, there is a curtain that can be used.
06:36At the end of the stairs on the upper floor, there is another toilet.
06:41Even though the house is small, we needed to have two toilets for five persons.
06:47The upper floor toilet has a custom door that also doubles as the door to the upper floor.
06:55There is a small office and entertainment area where my wife works during the day.
07:02And the children watch TV and play switch when they finish school.
07:10In the corner of this space, there is a small study for me.
07:14It is only about one square meter.
07:16I fill it with shelves and desks and it is my little sanctuary where I draw and create.
07:25In the evenings, my wife and I lay futon here.
07:29And this becomes our bedroom.
07:32It may be a bit strange for people outside of Japan,
07:36but sleeping on futon on the floor is very common in Japan.
07:40It allows us to have rooms that provide multiple functions.
07:47The kids' bedroom is on the other side of the upper floor.
07:52They sleep in the loft above and share a large desk.
07:56The large windows bring lots of natural light into the study and bedroom rooms.
08:03We added a lot of storage for books, toys, and household items.
08:09Maximizing wall space and height.
08:12The bookshelf in the bedroom becomes the stairs for the kids to climb up onto the loft.
08:19There are three windows here.
08:20And in the future, we will divide this space into three separate rooms.
08:25So the children have a bit more privacy.
08:32From the kids' bedroom, there is access to some storage above the study.
08:39There is access to balcony that wraps around the open roof.
08:42We added the same glass storage from the entrance up here for our clothes.
08:49I even set up a small desk on the balcony.
08:51So I have a place to paint and not worry if I make a mess.
08:58This is also where we can open and close the roof.
09:09The neighborhood is residential.
09:11It is a great place for a family.
09:13With a large park, schools, and shops within walking distance.
09:19To being my own client, I can do anything like no roof.
09:24So that was cool.
09:25So now I have this example so that I can show to other clients.
09:46And remember when I make a looking聖 my mesmer
09:46Thanks so much for thanking
09:46To our shop there's only book anything.ides
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