2017 Houses Awards: Apartment or Unit

Jury comment

Both Ekuan Kenji’s radical 1962 Capsule House and Kurokawa Kisho’s socially optimistic 1972 Nakagin Capsule Tower define one of the few moments in the history of architecture that gave rise to a typology that highlights how little the house and apartment typology has changed.

To misinterpret the historic architectural quotations in this project as “scenographic” or “nostalgic” would be a mistake. It is timely for architects to engage with history and ideas that might provide a springboard for future thinking.

With a floor area of twenty-seven square metres, this lean project is an acknowledgement of the creativity of the Japanese Metabolism movement. More importantly, it is a contemporary example that develops a spatially rich infill, adaptive re-use and multiple housing project as paradigm.

The jury lauds the design principles of the project and its assumed Loosian approach, where “form is fit for purpose.” This work is manifestly founded on passion and intelligence in architecture.

See full image galleries of all the winning and shortlisted projects here.

Award for Apartment or Unit is supported by Maximum.

Read Freya Lombardo’s review of Bobhubski here.