house of shelves real estate

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By Gilbert Mohtes-Chan, Inman NewsJune 30, 2011 Provided by :

House of Shelves

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The innovative 'Shelf-pod' house in Osaka, Japan can hold 10 tons of books.

Photo: Kazuya Morita Architecture Studio

Floor-to-ceiling, wall-to-wall shelving defines a compact, 557-square-foot home in Osaka

prefecture, Japan, designed by Japanese Architect Kazuya Morita.

Designed for a young historian with an extensive book collection in Islamic history, Morita designed

the house with interlocking laminated pine boards that slot together to form a lattice of towering

shelving units.

'Shelf-pod' Downsizes McMansion Trend

Every element -- from the stairs to the windows -- were scaled to the individual shelf unit, "with the

aim of achieving geometrical harmony which is comparable to Islamic architecture," Morita's

website notes.

The shelving had to be strong enough to support the entire house. "This is an unusual structure. I

never experienced this kind of architecture," said Morita, who declined to disclose the cost to build

the house. Numerous tests and experiments were run on models to ensure the structural integrity

and convince city planning officials to issue a building permit. The home's exterior features a

painted clay and bamboo wall, with cedar exterior wall plate. The interior is finished with plaster.

"It can support 10 tons of books," said Morita, who

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Location San Francisco, CA

Loan Amount $10000

Loan Purpose Purchase

Loan Type Fixed

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Exterior of the shelf-pod house in Osaka.


A good place for knick-knacks.


opened his architecture studio in 2000. And, he

added, "it can survive earthquakes."

The shelving even extends into the home's

bathroom, covering a wall above the toilet and

bathtub.

Construction of the shelving for the "Shelf-Pod"

home began in mid-2006, and the home was

completed in March 2007. Morita's website details

the many stages of construction, including the

preconstruction of the large shelving units, which

were assembled and structurally tested in a massive

laboratory at Kyoto University's Katsura Campus.

He commented in a blog post that the client "was not

entirely (sure) how to use this," when he saw the

design. Morita also commented that he was "rather

pleasantly surprised," during a visit to the home in 2008, to see how the client had furnished the

home and was using the space.

Considered part of a new generation of architects,

the 39-year-old Morita has wowed interior design

and architecture critics with the Shelf-Pod and some

other innovative and unique housing designs,

including the "Pentagonal House." He noted that the

Shelf-Pod was one of his most ambitious and

challenging projects.

For Morita, the Shelf-Pod embodies a movement

toward smaller, greener houses, and the increasing

need to build more compactly in crowded big cities

and retrenching suburban communities. He

describes his work as a harmonious marriage of

traditional and modern architecture, which

incorporates sustainable materials and eco-friendly

amenities. His homes blend indoor and outdoorenvironments and demonstrate that comfortable

living can come in small spaces.

"Japanese architecture always has to be smaller. We

have to live more efficiently," he said in an interview

from his office in Kyoto, Japan. "Many big cities have

the same problems. They are sprawling and

sprawling. It's a very international situation." His

smaller home designs, he said, are "very useful in China, New York, London and other big cities."

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