The program "Junin Jyuusho ~ As Many Family Forms as There Are Houses ~" (MBS, Saturday 5pm, Kansai local and other stations) hosted by talent Mika Mifune and actor Taro Suruga will feature the December 13th broadcast showcasing a "low-cost house" designed by an architect in Inuyama City, Aichi Prefecture, using his own home as a testbed.
The owners are an architect and his wife, a brain researcher, and they live with their youngest child. Six years ago, the house they built, designed by her husband, cost 18 million yen. By rethinking assumptions they took for granted, they were able to keep costs down and create an open space, like a dollhouse, with the living room, kitchen, and almost every part of the second floor fully visible.
As an architect, my husband uses his own home as a test bed to see how far he can cut costs. Most of the partitions in the house are not made of walls, but rather of a special fabric called a "breathable waterproof sheet." The main roof is a "single-pitch roof," which costs about 400,000 yen less than a regular roof, and the kitchen was installed using a combination of IKEA and MUJI products for a total of 300,000 yen.
The second floor, which is completely visible from the first floor, has three rooms, each about 6 tatami mats in size, including a children's room. The partitions are made of fabric sheets, which are also used on the first floor, and there are no doors, just curtains, and the open-ceiling area is simply covered with netting, creating an extremely open feel. By deliberately not striving for comfort on the second floor, the family naturally gathers on the first floor, which creates opportunities for communication. The husband says, "I think the unique feature of this house is that you can always feel the presence of family members."
"Jyunin Jyuiro" is a program that visits homes all over Japan and introduces the residents' preferences and charms for their homes. After broadcast, it will be available on TVer for one week.
