Future Living - by Claudia Hildner (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

Single-family houses are becoming increasingly outdated. They offer no response to demographic change or to the fact that there are fewer and fewer life-long relationships. They are often too inflexible for new family models or ways of cohabitation.
This publication presents projects in recent years in Japan, which respond to the need for new forms of housing. The architects are developing solutions that allow residents to live together but still maintain enough distance and privacy. The presented apartment types and their layout allow for a variety of life models. Particularly interesting here is the use of spaces that provide a gradual transition from public to private space--an approach to building that, according to experts, could revolutionize western residential architecture.
The publication portrays these new forms of building and living based on prominent Japanese examples that include Shigeru Ban, Sou Foujimoto, and Akihisa Hirata.

About the Author

Claudia Hildner was born in Munich in 1979 and studied architecture at the Technische Universität München and the University of Tokyo. Since 2007 she has been working as a freelance architectural journalist, writing many essays for professional publications. Until 2009 she was a member of the editorial staff of the e- magazine for the website german-architects.com, and until 2012 she was editor of the architectural journal Metamorphose. She has contributed to several books as author and/or editor.