Dornob | Design Ideas Daily

Japanese Motorcycle Apartment Houses Both Bikes & Bikers

Posted: 25 Jun 2012 10:00 AM PDT

[ Filed under Offbeat & in the Architecture category ]

Garages are great if you need them, redundant if you don’t, and extremely expensive in short-on-space places like Tokyo, Japan. Hence this elegant, form-fitting apartment complex designed with motor-bikers in mind.

Yuji Nakae, Akiyoshi Takagi & Hiroshi Ohno triple-teamed this industrious project that provides eight dwelling units with entries tied to their cycle-sized, drive-up indoor parking spaces on the first floor.

Shaped like a winding street, the building itself lends each unit a distinct plan and shape – diversity despite cramped quarters.

Meanwhile, that same curved form allows all units to view both the common entry area but even larger window openings viewing outside the complex.

The lack of elevators might be striking in another structure, but realistically, this is to the home of a self-selected group of people fit enough to manage on a motorcycle day in and day out (not to mention the additional space saved by omitting such a convenience).