Futuristic homes are often seen in futuristic sci-fi movies but in Japan it is very popular.
According to Hyperallergic.com, because of its dense population, it is difficult to manage or obtain a piece of real estate. The narrow streets and lots of the nation has given birth to "kyosho jutaku" meaning micro-homes made possible by carefully studied architecture. A book titled "Jutaku, a new book from Phaidon" written by Naomi Pollock looks into the eight regions of japan namely Hokkaido, Tohoku, Kanto, Chubu, Kinki, Chugoku, Shikoku, and Kyushu-Okinawa and reports that the small homes are not only prevalent in the big and populated cities but also in towns and villages.
The minimum size required to build a micro-home isn't regulated but it is necessary that there is a space between each building for fire-safety reasons.
But besides the limitations of space and location, there are other reasons that the furutistic "kyosho jutaku" is gaining vast popularity. One is that it reduces construction area and it gives developers the option to build it higher. The second is that architects are given the creative freedom because the walls of these unattached homes can be designed as desired.
There are considerations, though, when architects design these homes. The book by Pollock has pointed out Japan's "Sunshine Laws" that restricts the shadow cast by a building, making sure that the streets get sunshine all the time. These restrictions on a more positive note gives designers the freedom to come up with functional but oddly shaped structures for roofs.
In the book Pollock has written, "...western icons, like pitched roofs and dormer windows, are merely forms. Devoid of deeper meaning, they are used without so much as a nod to their history. In the absence of symbolic or stylistic ties, Japan has become something of a design free-for-all where everything goes with everything else."
