KYOTO MACHIYA FLOOR PLAN (1400 sq ft)
Machiya are the traditional wooden townhouses built throughout Japan for hundreds of years before the 20th century. In the 21st century they are being rapidly demolished and replaced with modern apartments, offices, and shops which meet updated building and fire safety codes. However, with their extinction on the horizon, there's an emerging appreciation of their cultural significance, and a desire to preserve them whenever possible. Some are minimally updated for contemporary use, while others undergo major renovations inside for today's competetive market, while maintaining as much of the external appearance as possible, and hints of their historical decor on the inside. As taxes were based on streetfront, properties and the machiya built on them tended to be quite narrow, but deep. This didn't allow much variety in the floorplans, with most extremely similar to my plan below. I've westernized the living and sleep rooms with wooden floors, and I've kept the outhouse - compensating by adding a second floor full split bath.