Product Description

Small Spaces is about living comfortably and using space wisely, and where better to find ideas on that subject than Japan, one of the world's most urban and densely populated countries? Tokyo resident Azby Brown, a distinguished architect and designer, has assembled dozens of creative solutions to space and storage problems, illustrating them with photographs and plans of actual living environments in contemporary homes.

The key to his approach is what might be called "The Three Cs "--compact, comfortable, and convenient. Use of space is reconsidered, with easy living always the uppermost goal. A living room is opened up by creating level changes or "joining it with the exterior." A staircase can double as a chest of drawers, a space beneath the floor can serve as a kitchen pantry or hiding place for a disappearing bed: an adjustable table can serve different purposes at different heights. From top to bottom, in bedroom, bathroom, kitchen and hall, Azby Brown presents solutions to the problems of inner space, illustrated with dozens of full-color photographs, drawings, and architectural plans.

Small Spaces will be a lifesaver for all those with growing families, shrinking resources, and limited room to grow--or indeed anyone who wants to transform a disorganized, cluttered environment into an orderly, attractive living area.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #54626 in Books
• Published on: 1996-09-15
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 96 pages

Amazon.com Review
Drawing upon the sparse tranquility of Japanese design, architect and Tokyo resident Azby Brown explains how to live comfortably in limited or overcrowded domains. By rethinking our approach to space, utilizing seemingly dead areas (under-floor or under-stairs storage, for example), creating multipurpose or convertible areas, and reconsidering layout, we can make the most of what we have. Some of these homes carry Eastern minimalism to an extreme that clutter-prone Westerners may not be comfortable with, but there are plenty of ingenious furniture, storage, and planning solutions nevertheless. --Amy Handy

From Library Journal
The Japanese have the ability to live in small spaces yet make them appear roomy and tranquil. Brown, a New Orleans native and Ph.D. candidate in architecture who has lived in Japan for more than a decade, examines their homes and lifestyles to find ideas that can be adapted to Western homes. This book is geared to the professional, although amateurs will find useful ideas such as closets with shelves in the doors, under-the-floor storage, and even a bed that retracts into the ceiling. For space-saving ideas in traditional Western styles, Anoop Parikh's Making the Most of Small Spaces (Rizzoli, 1994) will be more useful, but this book should find a place in professional and urban-area libraries.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review
"... an attitude toward designing space that inspires creative solutions.... ways to bring order and tranquility back into our lives." -- Fine Homebuilding

"Small Spaces has some dazzling answers: most simple and colorful, all imaginative and practical. Invaluable." -- House & Garden

"This book is an elegant jewel-box of ingenious design ideas for close-packing the elements of comfortable, even luxurious, living." -- Stewart Brand

Customer Reviews

An indoctrination in organization
As someone whose prospective first house is likely to be small--and even smaller inside--I've been looking around for useful ideas that will help me choose a home into which my Stuff will fit. (That's not just stuff; that's George Carlin-type STUFF, and it requires serious storage.) We're not just talking a smaller McMansion, but homes where the master bedroom is, on average, 10'x9' with badly placed doorways.

Azby Brown's book was an education in understanding the options even a small or oddly shaped space can afford. Though most of the actual implementations discussed would certainly work better in a Japanese home than in a '50s era raised ranch, the *ideas* are the thing. And these ideas are outstanding. Every inch of space is used to beautiful effect. Every opportunity is considered.

Especially choose this book if you're planning to remodel, as expert contractors and cabinetmakers will benefit from these pages; nevertheless, _Small Spaces_ is for anyone who still thinks that light neutrals and pint-sized furnishings are the only way to manage.

Fascinating topic
The title is a bit too vague-- this book is specifically on *Japanese* methods of minimizing clutter, which may or may not be useful to westerners. But what a fascinating topic it is. Only the Japanese could have thought of storing things below the floor, futons that can be rolled up and put away when they aren't in use, "borrowing the view" of your neighbour's garden, and so on. The photography isn't dazzling, and many of the homes aren't very stylish, but it's worth reading just to appreciate the ingenious ideas the Japanese have.

title should be changed to "Build built-in furniture"
The title should be "build built-in furniture to get rid of your space problems."

I think the ideas are worth considering: sure, if you have chairs for desks and vanities that slide right in, you can save a lot of space. Yes, build little drawers out of the stair case, and nifty pull out cabinets everywhere. Certainly having less furniture and more built -ins is the best way to reduce clutter. Yes, build underground "closets" in your floorboards and crawl space.

However, for most young people and for renters, the solutions are not practical because of lack of investment capital or long term plan for a space. Hiring carpenters to construct these designs would be of prohibitive cost for most, except for the wealthy.

I see from this book that Schindler and Neutra and all the modernists got lots of their ideas from the Japanese built-in solution.