Space can come at a premium in Japanese cities. Depending on the area, apartments can get incredibly expensive. One company thinks it has a solution: aluminium boxes.
Dubbed “T2”, the interior of this housing unit measures 2m x 4m across. The ceiling is over 2.3m high. The dwellings look cosy and probably are not exactly ideal for claustrophobes.
The T2 units, especially that above cluster, do seem like today’s answer to the Metabolist Movement of the Post War, which gave the world capsule hotels.
“T2” is short for “Transfer Technology Unit”. Each T2 is built in a factory and then delivered to the residence site via flatbed. T2 is the brainchild of the SUS Corporation, an aluminium parts manufacturer.
Inside, there are modern conveniences: A unit comes with a bed, a toilet, a shower, a sink, a kitchenette (with a fridge, a microwave, and a portable stove, etc), a TV and air conditioning as standard. And, yes, most of the interior fixtures are made of, you guessed it, aluminium.
As NHK recently pointed out, aluminium easily conducts heat. To combat that and for added insulation, SUS puts urethane foam between the aluminium sheets. The walls are insulated to keep the inside of the T2 unit quiet. And the A/C supposedly also helps keep things cool.
SUS is currently taking orders for its T2 living units. Each is priced at the equivalent of $29,000. That is incredibly cheap for a home but very expensive for a large aluminium box.
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