Thursday, February 20, 2020

Japanese architects still trying to kill people

This takes me back:   a decade ago I was mocking the way Japanese architect designed houses seemed to disproportionately feature stupid, unsafe stairways.  A reminder:
I’ve mentioned here before the fondness modern Japanese architects seem to have for precipitous stairways without rails, balcony levels with low walls, and generally anything that any sensible client would recognize as a death trap for them or their house guests.
Well, I think this distinctive set of apartments in Tokyo probably takes the cake.  Why bother waiting for the resident to slip off the edge of rail-less stairs when you can actually build large holes in the floor!
As I said in a comment at Dezeen, the next logical step is hidden, spring loaded trap doors in the floor, to keep clients on their toes.
Well, they are still at it, if this post at Dezeen is anything to go by:
A series of triangular and rectangular platforms create numerous floor levels inside this house in Osaka, Japan.
Designed by Tato Architects, House in Takatsuki is a three-storey building containing 16 different floor levels.
Imagine negotiating this.  I keep getting images of cartoon/slapstick characters falling down various ledges from top to bottom:




I particularly like the touch of the sharp cornered metal step in the last photo.  Perfectly suited to slicing open a calf.

It's really just nuts.



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