#HTE

Muji Seeking Human Guinea Pigs to Live in Their New House Design, Rent-Free

We were excited to see the floorplans for Muji’s pre-fab Vertical House, which was designed to maximize floorspace in tight cities like Tokyo. Now they’ve followed up with their Window House design, which will have the benefit of having windows on four sides, as it’s been designed for areas with less density than the capital. They’re building a test model in the much smaller city of Kamakura (pop. 174,000, versus Tokyo’s 13-million-plus). And some lucky soul(s) will get to live in it for two years—for free.

Yes, Muji is now accepting applications to be the Window House’s resident human guinea pigs. As the name suggests, the house was specifically designed to incorporate a series of carefully-placed windows to regulate both light and airflow, and now that the design is complete, it’s time to get actual feedback on whether the system works as intended.

Thus they’re going to select a lucky applicant (it can be a single person, a family, or even a group of friends) to live in the house for a two-year trial. The rent will be covered by Muji, but in exchange, the denizens must be willing to appear in photo/video ops and provide the crucial feedback the designers will need in order to refine the design.

Applicants need not be Japanese—but must be able to fluently speak Japanese, which makes sense given that they must communicate clearly with Muji’s designers. Oh, and another bonus: If you’re selected, while you must move out of the Window House after two years, you get free Muji furniture—for life.

Frustratingly, Muji has not released detailed drawings of the Window House like they did with the Vertical House (at least that I can find, searching in English) although they did release this video showing an interior of the Window House prototype. If you turn the computer-translated English subtitles on, you may be able to glean some information as to the design details, but I couldn’t extract much:

Interested Nihongo-speakers can apply here.