Adding a bed leaves less room for a desk. Starting with the same nine-square-meter footprint, these small dwellings make room for different ways of living.
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When organizing a room, moving one piece of furniture can force other things to move too. If you move the desk to the window, the closet door will get stuck, and if you turn the bed, the path to walk through will become narrower. The size of a house is written in numbers, but living in it is made up of small choices like these.
Tokyo 21_21 DESIGN SIGHT’s exhibition ‘Learning from “Hōjōki”: Tiny Architecture Reweaves Life’ starts with the same conditions of 9㎡. Architects, designers, artists, and companies each proposed small shelters using different materials and tools. Instead of comparing who built a larger house, this exhibition allows us to see what each participant chose to include within the same footprint.
Questions that started in an old cabin
The starting point is the essay “Hōjōki” written by Kamo no Chomei in the early 13th century. It is an article that looks back on how to live in a world that is constantly changing, and the title includes a small abode. Although the cabin from that time does not remain, this exhibition brings that small space back to today's life.
The exhibition director is architect Yoshiharu Tsukamoto. Instead of increasing the area, participants changed the materials and manufacturing methods. Visitors can walk between residences throughout the exhibition hall and compare different interpretations. Rather than an exhibition that accurately restores an old house, it is an opportunity for each person to answer questions raised about the house in their own way.
Ways of living within a small footprint
When you look at a small house, you may wonder about storage. Where do you sleep, what do you keep, and how do you move your body? The answer is not determined by the number of pieces of furniture alone. The direction of light coming in, the feel of the materials, and the location facing the outside also affect the way you use your home.
However, this does not mean that a smaller home offers a better life for everyone. If the people you live with, the things you need, and the conditions under which you move your body are different, the same area feels different. What makes this exhibition interesting is not that it celebrates cramped living, but that it shows different choices side by side in a limited space.
The exhibition will be open until January 11, 2027. 9㎡ is still small. However, even within the same number, a completely different house begins depending on which lifestyle you choose first.
Image guide: This is an AI-generated concept image expressing the composition of living in a small space. This is not a photo of an actual exhibition piece or a room whose area has been verified.
Sources and editorial notes
21_21 DESIGN SIGHT · Exhibition Overview
21_21 DESIGN SIGHT · Exhibition Introduction
Editorial note: Facts were checked against the sources above; interpretations are MUADAILY’s editorial views. Image: MUADAILY · AI-generated concept image.
Machine-translated from Korean. Read the original.
