Small Spaces: Stylish Ideas for Making More of Less in the Home

By Azby Brown

Book Overview

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.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 4770020848
• ISBN13: 9784770020840
• Release Date: September 1996
• Publisher: Kodansha
• Length: 96 Pages
• Weight: 1.29 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 10.8" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

small spaces with hugh ideas

This book is so ingenious that it inspired me to change careers, and make a few changes around the house myself.

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.

Deserves space on your underfloor shelf

Azby Brown lives in Japan, and has written a number of books about Japanese design, or carpentry, from the perspective of a close observer. This book deals with design and product approaches to living in small spaces without clutter. The premise is that the smaller a space is, the more it needs to appear empty if living in it is to be fully comfortable and satisfying. This isn't a book on how to load more gear into more "storage solutions", though some unusual solutions like underfloor storage are elaborated.Granted a lot of this stuff is not going to be transferable to American houses, and some of the details, like miraculously small appliances are not even well illustrated (most ilustration are very good). But then there is a huge market for books covering professionally created 25 000 square foot spaces in Carmel by the Sea, or whatever, and I am not likely to fully implement ideas from those books either. Frankly adapting the spirit of this book is much more likely

Scary stuff for a North American!

Great book on how to store, and organize stuff like only the Japanese can do. For us North American's, applying these principles may be impossible because of the way our culture has brought us up. Still there are lots of great ideas, and it is quite interesting to what can be done with limited space with a little imagination.

Creative and beautiful.

I have always known that I wanted to have a garden "inside" my home. Now, I understand how it can be done. This book is full of wonderful ideas for all who see the beauty in simplicity.