Furniture House 1 by Shigeru Ban On a further note, the Furniture House itself is quoted to have been inspired by the Farnsworth House, so Mies van der Rohe serves as another inspiration to Shigeru Ban, especially in the case of this house. Many similarities are visible between the Furniture House and the Farnsworth House, particularly the use colour, glass and ways of defining space. These houses are not identical: the Farnsworth House relies upon a steel frame to stay upright but they are certainly comparable, with their uninterrupted floors and roofs for instance. The Farnsworth House was designed in a way where the space was optimised in the best way; everything is placed where it is for a good reason. For instance, the drain and sewage pipes, as well as the vent shafts, are placed within the central slabs that constitute the house, in order to render them invisible to the inhabitant of the house. In the Furniture House, the same ultimate planning can be seen with the left-hand wardrobe wall of the tea room, for instance. It is strategically placed as it does not only act as a limit to the tea room but it also shows where the entrance to the house is. In this sense, every piece of furniture is placed to perfection in order to arrange the spaces efficiently. Also we can relate to Ban's philosophy, which is explained later on, when he states that he doesn't appreciate the use of waste in modern architecture in order to make a funny shape. Mies Van der Rohe, and subsequently Shigeru Ban, can be seen as architects who do not design buildings belonging to a certain style or period like Baroque or Renaissance architecture, but as architects who define space.
Having stated that the Farnsworth House possesses an interior that is planned to near perfection, it is necessary to study the Furniture House's interior. Ban has organised the house into five supposed rooms: an entrance, a guest room, a bedroom, a kitchen/living room and a bathroom. What is interesting is that all of these rooms are defined by the furniture which act as boundaries between different spaces. The living room/kitchen is linked to the outdoors as a result of the modernly furnished interior space: the sliding doors allow access to an interior courtyard. This succeeds in creating a feeling of natural space as Ban has combined the house with the outdoors. Also, the use of an open plan within the house connects the areas of the interior of the house: there is no separation between the living area and kitchen for instance.