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The Kneeslider

Doers Builders and Positive People

Motorcycle Apartments Keep Your Bike Inside

By Paul Crowe

Motorcycle apartments in Japan
Motorcycle apartments in Japan

When you’re pressed for space as they are in Japan, you have to get a little creative. This 8 unit apartment complex built on a very small lot has a motorcycle garage in every apartment.

Motorcycle apartments in Japan
Motorcycle apartments in Japan

There’s a central driveway with a curved turnaround in the center of the building with garage doors from all of the 3 story apartments encircling the drive. The building is a concrete and steel structure with very modern appearance, a bit too sterile for my taste, but a great example of efficient use of space.

Motorcycle apartments surround central driveway
Motorcycle apartments surround central driveway

Every serious motorhead likes the idea of having his vehicles inside, protected from the weather and thieves, plus having a convenient workspace close by. This is definitely cozy and close.

As in a previous post about the Japanese magazine Garage Life, it’s obvious they’ve become quite adept at fitting vehicles into their homes and apartments in a country where space is at a premium, but here in the US, we tend to do things a little bigger. Interesting.

Thanks for the tip, CW!

Link: Nakae Architects via Gizmag

Motorcycle apartments, every apartment is different
Motorcycle apartments, every apartment is different

Posted on July 2, 2012 Filed Under: Garages

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Comments

  1. Mean Monkey says

    July 2, 2012 at 8:45 am

    Where’s the spiral driveway to the 3rd floor?
    Just joking–it’s pretty cool.

  2. cycledave says

    July 2, 2012 at 9:22 am

    This would be great if a motel/hotel chain would pick this up. Leaving your motorcycle parked outside where you can’t see it or protect it has given me many a sleepless night while on a motorcycle trip. This would also reduce theft from apartment parking lots.
    If someone had a trials bike and some skill, they could ride the stairs to the third floor!
    pretty cool.

    • Wave says

      July 2, 2012 at 10:53 am

      My dad once brought his motorbike into a motel room in outback Australia. He was riding a 250cc Honda from Perth to Adelaide across the Nullabor (a very long way across the outback, including a completely straight section 91 miles long) and the air-cooled engine was overheating the oil. He took the head off the bike and had to rebuild it overnight in the motel.

  3. Wave says

    July 2, 2012 at 10:47 am

    Making each apartment cover three floors with it’s own staircase seems like a terrible waste of space to me. Those staircases eat up valuable real estate. I would much rather have an apartment all on one level, with a common staircase for the building and a separate small garage on the ground floor. That seems to me the most efficient way of doing it.

    • Miles says

      July 2, 2012 at 12:13 pm

      The ground space is probably the most expensive per square foot, three stories gets you more for your footprint.

      Also the point is probably keeping your bike in the house with you, it looks like the crapper, laundry and bathtub are in with the bike.

      • Wave says

        July 2, 2012 at 1:03 pm

        That’s great for people who like having a bath with their bike I guess?! Seems pretty crazy to me. Also, if I’m not mistaken, that room is the only entrance to the apartment. So, on inviting guests into your home, the first thing they see is your toilet and washing machine?

        It’s not for me, but maybe in Japan it would be an attractive option.

  4. Leif says

    July 2, 2012 at 6:00 pm

    I remember looking at this a few years ago and every time i think of it I imagine how awesome a good exhaust would sound in that courtyard/driveway. I think these are a great idea and the concept could be easily applied to other cultures with high density living issues and traffic congestion.

  5. Thom says

    July 2, 2012 at 6:41 pm

    That tears it. I’m moving to Japan.

    • Scott D says

      July 3, 2012 at 1:41 am

      Have you considered the toilets though?
      And the ever constant threat of Godzilla?

      • cwj says

        July 3, 2012 at 10:52 pm

        Fear the Godzilla Toilet.

  6. lostinoz says

    July 3, 2012 at 7:06 am

    The only thing I don’t think I’d be ok with is when my wife opens the garage/bathroom/main entrance to bring in her (presumably) small Japanese bike while I’m having a seat reading the news.
    Which is something that hasn’t been covered. That honda shadow looks HUGE in there, its doubtful you’d be able to have two bikes in there, and if you did, you better install a towel rack and a toilet paper holder on the one you ride less (in our case, hers)
    I’d also agree though, that a wicked set of pipes would sound good in that courtyard. But one HELL of a bad alarm for everyone in the house as I’d like to warm it up before pulling it out!
    But… haven’t they had this in America for a long time? They’re called “sliding glass doors” and “ceramic tile throughout” or am I the only crazy guy that brings his bike into the dining room to work on it in less than optimal conditions?

    • Thom says

      July 3, 2012 at 11:51 am

      While I have done that, my significant other does not approve. I’m stuck working on my bike out in the weather…

      • lostinoz says

        July 3, 2012 at 8:21 pm

        the table is my work bench, the tile is my drain pan…

        Ive learned a lot watching my dogs “this is mine and this is mine and this is mine…”

        I doubt I’d be so lucky with anyone else, but shes a biker too, and _I_ do the work on the bikes…

  7. Carolynne says

    July 3, 2012 at 9:34 am

    There has been some new construction here along these lines. If you have to live in a crowded area I like the concept. Here in Ottawa its bigger of course but what they doing is in downtown areas they are building town houses facing inward towards a driveway/courtyard with only one exit going out to the street. Its pretty neat, you can drive right by them and not even notice all the houses packed in there. They can pack a lot of house in a little area that way, and it makes it a lot safer for the kids to play on the shared pavement but i am not sure how well it works in the case of fires where you need to get firetrucks in there, maybe they make sure its wide enough, I am certain they can’t ignore that. As for the bathroom being on the ground floor, I would put those up a floor unless you had mulitiple washrooms thats a long walk down if you have to go in the middle of the night.

  8. todd says

    July 3, 2012 at 10:42 pm

    I guess the fumes aren’t a problem? This wouldn’t be allowed in the US without a 1-hour fire barrier between the garage and the living space. So much for the cool spiral staircase.

    Still sweet as heck.

    -todd

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