A house for a couple and a child stands on a lot 6.4 meters wide and 14 meters deep. The site is located at the historical districts in Tokyo. While small land plots from Edo times remains, recent drastic urban transformation has made this district from houses with retails/ offices to commercial buildings and hotels. The client couple took over the old wooden house which was lack of light because of dense environment and cold in winter with draft of cold air, which was led to reconstruction.

Architectural Concept: Live in dense city with full of light and space fluidity The slim volume was divided into three zones: the courtyard and the open stairs in the center, and split-level floors on either side of the courtyard and stairs so that every rooms have sufficient daylight. Rooms are allocated alternately in the vertical direction, putting low height storages in between and lofts on the top. Space fluidity is provided with the connection among the living-dining-kitchen on the first floor, the working desk space with hallway function, the second-floor child room and the mezzanine den below the child room. This sequence creates a spacious feeling. The living-dining-kitchen with high ceiling has a loft as light shelf. Daylight and weather transition can be enjoyed through the side window on the loft. Only bedroom, bathroom and laundry are separated by slide doors, other rooms from entrance to loft are gently connected. Split-level floors enables vertical, horizontal and diagonal continuity and sense of depth. The project site is highly dense mix-use neighborhood since 17th century. Avoiding large building with owner house and tenant spaces by maximizing the floor area ratio, the client decided to have minimum floor to live with the family. It contribute to construction cost reduction and operational sustainability & flexibility. The façade is 8.5m high for a two-story house, corresponding surrounding high buildings. The courtyard assures neighborhood sunlight, and building height and window configuration are decided with consideration to balconies and windows locations of adjacent houses.

Photo courtesy: Kazuhiro Nagae/ Ewix Inc.