Housing built by Japanese Homeless as Art Form
March 20th, 2006 by Monkey
The homeless are everywhere, even in tidy Japan, where many have developed ingenious houses that quickly fold away and can be easily rebuilt after police raids. Some of them are quite elegant, with tatami mats and bonsai shrubs. Architect Kyohei Sakaguchi has been studying and documenting them, publishing 0 Yen Houses in 2004. “”These homes embody simplicity, functionality and are at one with their environment, like the tea house of Rikyu Sen,” referring to a 16th-century tea master who preached frugality through the Japanese art of tea ceremony. “I don’t want to idealize the situation homeless people find themselves in,” he said. “But in a world where most of us live in mass-produced, concrete boxes, Zero Yen Houses are precious works of art. They deserve to be recognized.” ::0 Yen Houses (Japanese) and read Hiroko Tabuchi’s ::Associated Press article and older article from the ::Times Online
Originally by lloyd from Treehugger on March 18, 2006, 10:27am
