Five wooden cabins fan out around a site on Tokyo Bay to form this capsule accommodation by Japanese office Yasutaka Yoshimura Architects.

Located on the east coast of the bay in Kyonan, the hostel was designed by Yasutaka Yoshimura Architects as five rectilinear wooden buildings with grey-painted exteriors and exposed timber interiors.

Three of the buildings accommodate guest facilities, including bathrooms, communal kitchen and dining areas, plus large Japanese-style rooms with tatami mats across the floor.

Compact bedrooms occupy the other two buildings and are stacked up on two storeys to make room for 12 in each block.

"All the rooms have a view of the Tokyo Bay, each one becoming a space like a ship's cabin," says Yasutaka Yoshimura Architects.

Each of the eleven-metre-long containers has a timber frame and follows similar dimensions to a shipping container to allow it to fit onto a freight truck. "The client requested guest units that had the possibility of future relocation or addition," explain the architects.

A car park is positioned behind the buildings, but could provide space for three extra buildings in the future.

Yasutaka Yoshimura Architects previously designed a holiday home that looks like a children's shape-sorter toy.

Other capsule accommodation to feature on Dezeen include the Sleepbox Hotel filled with portable sleeping capsules and a six-bed dorm by Atelier Van Lieshout.

Photography is by Yasutaka Yoshimura.

Here are some extra details from the architects:

Hostel in Kyonan
2012 / Chiba Japan / Hostel

This private training center has 2 capsule-hotel and 3 tatami-style buildings. They are positioned with various angles of axis and all the rooms have a view of the Tokyo Bay, each one becoming a space like a ship's cabin.

The client requested guest units that had the possibility of future relocation or addition. While clearing these requirements and in order to ensure the necessary dimension for the bedroom spaces with economy, we utilised a wooden structural frame on a standard freight-truck of adequate dimensions.

Location: Kyonan, Chiba, Japan
Principal use: hostel
Category: newly built
Structure: timber, 1 storey
Completion date: 2012

Site area: 1,013.22 sqm
Building area: 149.85 sqm
Total floor area: 149.85 sqm
Structural engineer: ASA
General contractor: Ajiro Koumuten