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Azby Brown (Tokyo) is a professor of Architectural Design at the Kanazawa Institute of Technology and founder and director of the Future Design Institute. He has written extensively on compact housing design, including books such as Small Spaces, The Very Small Home and The Japanese Dream Home.His most recent book, Just Enough: Lessons in Living Green from Traditional Japan will be available in early 2010.

Mr. Brown’s talk focused on ways in which good design can promote a high quality of life, despite limited floor area being available for residences.  It featured recent examples of residential design in Japan in which careful use of natural light, soft spatial divisions, well-designed storage and fittings, and awareness of essential characteristics of social interaction combine to provide dwelling space which is private, personal, stimulating, and soothing.