10 Smart, Skinny Buildings Squeezed into Teeny Tiny Spaces

Share:

Tokyo-based design firm, Atelier Bow-Wow coined the term “pet architecture” to describe buildings squeezed in to left over urban spaces. Why the cute conclusion? Principals Yoshiharu Tsukamoto and Momoyo Kajima, explain: “Pets, companion animals of the people, are usually small, humorous and charming. We find what we call ‘pet architecture,’ architecture having pet like characteristics, existing in the most unexpected places within the Tokyo city limits.”

From a handful of Bow-Wow’s stunning, smart designs to buildings so thin they look like a sheet of paper, click through to check out some of the most incredible buildings built for the teeny, tiny slivers of leftover land in our increasingly dense urban areas.

Split Machiya by Atelier Bow-Wow – Tokyo, Japan

Photo credit: Manuel Oka via designboom

Tower Machiya by Atelier Bow-Wow – Tokyo, Japan

Image credit:

Tower House by Atelier Bow-Wow – Tokyo, Japan

Image credit: Atelier Bow-Wow; drz

House & Atelier Bow-Wow by Atelier Bow-Wow – Tokyo, Japan

Image credit: Atelier Bow-Wow; archdaily

Ogimachi Global Dispensing Pharmacy by TKY Japan – Osaka, Japan

Image credit: ninkipen!

House in Tamatsu by Ido, Kenji Architectural Studio – Osaka, Japan

Photo credit: Yohei Sasakura via dezeen

Parasite Office Concept by Za Bor Architects – Moscow, Russia

Image credit: Za Bor Architects via designboom

SOHO + apartment by Schemata Architects – Tokyo, Japan

Photo credit: Takumi Ota via Schemata Architects

Billboard Building by Klein Dytham Architecture – Tokyo, Japan

Image credit: Klein Dytham

Coffee Saloon Kimoto – Tokyo, Japan

Image credit: Jean Snow