shigeru ban x muji: house of furniture at house vision

shigeru ban x muji: house of furniture image © HOUSE VISION / photo by nacása & partners inc.

shigeru ban has teamed up with muji, a simple products provider with a fundamentalist dedication to ‘brand-less’ goods for the urban dweller, to create a housing prototype as part of the HOUSE VISION exhibit. masterminded by designer kenya hara the showcase seeks to shape and highlight japanese attitudes about urban living and the structures that shape it. while muji has found its niche market by essentially freeing the brand of ever-changing consumer tastes, the architect expands on the brand’s dedication to low cost, simplicity and high function with a pavilion that embodies those very qualities. ban cites the culturally japanese tendency for age-specific, but variously flexible lifestyles and thusly proposed a mix of western and japanese home typologies in a well-grounded balance. the ‘house of furniture’ from an eponymous previous shigeru ban project further articulates the idea of furniture units working as elements of the architectural structure. spatial division and storage are designed as a do-it-yourself, flexible system and often act as literal floor-to-ceiling bolstering devices.

see designboom’s coverage of toyo ito’s pavilion as well as sou fujimoto’s full scale proposal.

view of the living space shows a home organized by modular furnitureimage © HOUSE VISION / photo by nacása & partners inc.

storage units are nestles, structural componentsimage © HOUSE VISION / photo by nacása & partners inc.

renderings show geometrically divided spaces bolstered by structural furnitureimage © HOUSE VISION

image © HOUSE VISION

storage units are envisioned in a do-it-yourself spirit with absolute flexibility in mindimage © HOUSE VISION

 the home combines japanese aesthetic traditions with western spatial typologiesimage © HOUSE VISION

storage units are seamlessly integrated into the architectureimage © HOUSE VISION

interview with masaaki kanai chairman and president of mujivideo © HOUSE VISION

interview with shigeru banvideo © HOUSE VISION

 the pavilion was presented as part of a greater exhibit that focused on the future of japanese homesimage © HOUSE VISION