To begin a semester long project designing (and eventually building) a home for Habitat for Humanity, the studio researched and analyzed different non-Western housing traditions, aiming to discover how space might be organized or used more efficiently in the home. I chose to study the Japanese Minka. Minkas were the single family homes of peasants during the Edo period (1600-1850's) in Japan. It is a solid, mud walled-structure that has few to no windows. The design is primarily driven by structure and is dominated by a massive roof (needed to shed the high volume of rain and snow Japan experiences). The structure from the inner wall structure to the roof structure can be described as a woven lattice. The posts align with a rhythm determined by the tatami mat. The home is split between communal living rooms and an indoor work area. The only room considered to be a private space is the shared sleeping room.
