Gap House Pushes Optimal Space Utilisation To The Extreme
Gap House was designed by Japanese office MUU Store Design Studio. Built on a 60 square metres area, the designers had to maximize the space.
Called Gap House, the property slots into a tight spacing between two older buildings, in a residential area in front of the Japanese Sagami Bay. Due to the limited space available, MUU Store Design Studio designed it to be as space-efficient as possible.
This project follows the embedded tradition in Japan for creating small homes. The studio, led by architect Ippei Kimoto, explained:
“This house was aimed at taking advantage of site and space in three dimensions,”
The two-storey house is actually just a recess, added to create enough space for an entrance. There is also another recess at the back of the building, which creates a sheltered balcony for the clients.
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Inside the house there are 100 square metres of floor space. To make the most of every inch, both storeys are split over various levels thus creating natural division between different spaces, without the need for many partitions walls.
The house is organized in the following manner: on the ground floor, the levels separate a living space from the master bedroom and on the upper floor, the split levels divide a kitchen and dining area from a second bedroom.
Storage areas are integrated under the living room floor, while the balcony creates an extra living space.
The studio has designed the interior details to make this apartment as light and airy as possible. It includes a basic white steel-frame staircase, simple window frames, a minimal kitchen and wooden floors.
The design team added:
“We feel pleasant breeze, due to windows on the north and south sides, and the warm air discharged to the upper space by the skip floors and stairs without risers”
