Modular volumetric construction's potential customization has been limited to stacking or clustering and has remained one of the factors for its marginal uptake in housing even as its advantages have been made clear. Working with modules that could be twisted, rotated, and even placed vertically has informed so many experiments envisioning inventive solutions for architectural space from premade boxes.
Founded in 1967, Misawa Homes is a notable Japanese producer, still recognized as a leader in the field. Their success is based on understanding the local market and investing in research and development. The company's research branch is responsible for exploring innovative technical concepts, relationships with local universities and sponsoring architectural competitions to bridge architecture with manufacturing. A competition underwritten by Misawa in 1971 was published in Japan Architect, garnered much attention and was highlighted by a unique winning entry designed by Mayasuki Kurokawa. Adrift from standardized modular boxes, the design proposed a manufactured volumetric unit completely integrated with functional living elements that would be mass produced in a factory and delivered to any site. Once delivered the module would be set on temporary foundations or a structural base, hinged and then tilted 45 degrees to fashion a two-level living space inscribed by and within the tilted box. Divided into day and night, living spaces adjacent to a wet service wall arranged the ground floor and a stair (parallel to the boxes tilt) lead to sleeping spaces. Furniture elements were integrated and showcase the proposal’s link to the well-established capsule culture familiar with 20thcentury Japanese architectural prefab. The 45-degree section defined an oblique vertical space directly aiming at a skylight that opened the space inundating the house with daylight or a starry nocturnal sky.
In multiples, each box would be inverted, juxtaposed, and clustered in a linear plan creating a low-density town-house block. Using a volumetric module framework to create spatial quality is perhaps the proposal's most important contribution as to this day prefab maintains the connotation of lacking diversity in manners of organization and architectural merit. Kurokawa's proposal addressed these undertones with an innovative section and a simple modular tilt.
The Tilted Box serial dwelling
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