Shared living a lifestyle choice: by Naruse-Inokuma Architects.

Modes of living have varied with the age and the prevalent culture. Recent trends suggest that evermore single people will live alone in small apartments, but this is not sustainable. More interestingly, some single people are beginning to challenge this paradigm, thanks in part to popular TV shows that depict fashionable young, and even older people, enjoying this way of living.

The problem to date has been that most accommodation is converted from larger houses, but this project by Naruse-Inokuma Architects is a new build. The opportunity has therefore been given to consider what shared accommodation could actually be like.

Conceived as a product that will be reproduced on other sites, the design for the accommodation has been dubbed “LT Josai”. At its heart is a lifestyle experience that aims to capture something of the quality of the TV shows that have spawned its popularity.

The building has 13 individual rooms with the leftover, negative space forming the communal areas. Those areas have a range of spatial qualities from the large, loud and open down to intimate, quiet spaces.

Christopher C. Hill

Gratitude to Spoon and Tomago.