Danchi Hutch by Yoshihiro Yamamoto Architects

Danchi Hutch is a basic box of a house, humble and inexpensive but with a very functional layout. It has a carriage house design, with a small upper floor living area over a garage space below. While this is a stand-alone house, it is small enough that it could be built as an accessory dwelling unit in many North American cities. The clients, a craftsman and his mother, requested a small minimal house even though a larger home could have been built on the site.

The small house has just 40.5 m² (436 ft ²) of living space. Yoshihiro Yamamoto Architects Atelier designed a linear floor plan with a bedroom at one end, a tiny kitchen and dining area in the middle, and a living room at the other end. Sliding wall panels are used to partition off the living room and convert it into a private second bedroom at night. The stairs coming up from the ground level land in the middle of the floor plan, keeping the required circulation space to a minimum. Bathroom facilities are off to the side, with separate toilet and bath compartments.

In keeping with the modest design, the material palette was kept simple. The dwelling is clad in dark metal. Although metal is not the cheapest choice, it goes up quickly making for a fairly low installed cost. It also requires little maintenance, is long-lasting and is recyclable. The interior walls and ceiling are finished with plywood, while plywood and tatami mats are used for the flooring.

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Photographs by Yohei Sasakura, courtesy of Yoshihiro Yamamoto Architects Atelier. Via Architizer.

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