Constructed in 2019, the 87.23-square-meter House 8.5 is an atelier-style residence designed by the architecture studio DOG for a painter, his wife, child, and mother in Ninomiya, Japan. Situated along the historic Tokaido Road, the design is a poetic nod to the area's artistic heritage, a path once walked and drawn by the renowned ukiyo-e artist Hiroshige. The house presents a striking sculptural form, defined by its steep, sloping roof that doubles as a wall on the northern facade. In a neighborhood of relatively uniform three-story buildings, House 8.5 stands out through its dynamic form while maintaining a respectful scale. Its intriguing shape and visual angles vary depending on the viewer's position, offering a source of creative inspiration for the resident painter. The interior is cleverly organized to separate the family's living area from the artist's studio using a large, diagonal exhibition wall. This wall, oriented along the maximum diagonal length of the site, provides a prominent space for displaying the painter's work to both the family and the outside world. A glass entrance on the sloped facade offers a glimpse into the atelier from the street. The interplay between the diagonal exhibition wall and the sloped roof creates a three-dimensional effect, with spaces that feel alternately wide and narrow, high and low. Rooms are located on the ground floor, while the kitchen and living room are situated on the first floor. The interior features a white-tiled bathroom and finishes that complement the house's clean, geometric lines. Credits Architects: DOG (Ryutaro Saito + Shun Ide*Nikken Housing System) Structural Engineer: Yasuhiro Kaneda Builder: Shinshin Construction Co.,Ltd. Photographs: Satoshi Takae, Shinkenchiku Location: Ninomiya, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan Year: 2019 Area: 87.23 m² (Total Floor) Manufacturers: Vectorworks, Duravit, Adobe, Aica Kogyo Compamy Limited, LIXIL, Nagoya Mosaic, Tile Park, Trimble Navigation, ikuta

The House in Tokyo, also known as the "Frame of a House" or "2700 House", was designed by IGArchitects founder Masato Igarashi for himself and his wife. The project, completed in April 2023, is located in Tokyo and is a response to the city's high land costs, with the architects aiming to explore possibilities for modern, flexible urban living in a compact space. The residence blurs the lines between private and work life, creating a dynamic environment where the couple can sense each other's presence regardless of where they are in the house. Spanning 59.88 square meters, the house is structurally robust and visually open. It was designed to feel like "one big room" with staggered mezzanine levels rather than traditional, distinct spaces. The concrete structure is left exposed, complemented by wooden details, and the floors are arranged to create different areas without fixed partitions. The interior features a series of platforms and stairs that maximize the use of the small urban footprint while maintaining a sense of fluidity and openness. The design prioritizes natural light, with sections of full-height glazing at the front of the home that draw light deep into the plan. Service areas like the kitchen and bathroom are positioned at the rear. The strategic placement of windows and the irregular floor plates are intended to make it difficult to see into the interior from the outside, creating privacy despite the abundant natural light. Credits Architecture Firm: IGArchitects Lead Architects: Masato Igarashi Client: Tomoko Igarashi and Masato Igarashi Photography: Ooki Jingu

Completed in 2017, the T House, also known as T noie, is a 102-square-meter family home located in Toyota, Japan, and designed by Katsutoshi Sasaki + Associates. The architects were inspired by both the human and urban scale, creating a structure with unusual proportions designed for both intimate comfort and spacious openness. The design is based on two different dimensional scales: a narrow width of 1.55 meters, which promotes a feeling of human closeness and coziness, and a soaring eight-meter ceiling, which creates a sense of openness and reflects the scale of the surrounding urban streetscape. These two scales coexist within the home, with different floors loosely connected to encourage movement and interaction. The interior is arranged across platforms that are staggered along a spiral staircase, allowing inhabitants to share the same space even when in different rooms. The house features a striking dark exterior clad in red cedar planks, giving it a minimalist and private appearance with few windows. In contrast, the interior is finished in light Falcata plywood, creating a bright and airy atmosphere. Natural light enters the house primarily through clerestory windows that wrap around the top of the walls, filtering soft light into the interior throughout the day. The T-shaped structure was developed with a unique joint pillar-and-beam system to create a new way of living within the traditional Japanese dimensional framework. Credits Architect: Katsutoshi Sasaki + Associates (Katsutoshi Sasaki) Structure Company: Tatsumi Terado Structural Studio Construction Company: Toyonaka construction Co., Ltd. Garden Design: GARDEN WORKS ENZO Photography: Katsutoshi Sasaki + Associates

"Situated on a narrow, triangular plot of land in the Horinouchi neighborhood of Suginami, Tokyo, the House in Horinouchi is a small, two-story residence designed by Mizuishi Architects Atelier for a couple and their daughter. Completed in 2011, the project is a testament to resourceful Japanese design, making ingenious use of a confined site nestled between a river and a road. The home's unusual shape is a direct response to the plot's acute angle, with the structure's volume pushing the boundaries of the permitted building envelope. The exterior is clad in metallic brown panels, creating a solid and distinct form with a cantilevered second floor that provides a small, sheltered parking space underneath. Despite its compact size of just 55.2 square meters (595 square feet) over two floors, plus a mezzanine loft, the interior feels more spacious than its footprint suggests. A ""reverse"" floor plan places the main living spaces on the second floor to take advantage of natural light and views over the adjacent river promenade. Large windows on both sides of the living area, including one that opens to a narrow balcony, frame long sightlines that extend the visual length of the house. A double-height ceiling in the kitchen area further enhances the sense of vertical space and connects to a small loft above, accessed by a ladder and illuminated by a large skylight. The ground floor houses a more private master bedroom, which, defined only by curtains, can expand visually into the adjacent stair hall. Project credits Architecture: Kota Mizuishi / Mizuishi Architect Atelier Structural Engineer: Kentaro Nagasaka Lighting Designer: Tatsuoki Nakajima Contractor: Hirano-Kensetu Photography: Hiroshi Tanigawa"

"Completed in 2023, the House in Nishizaki is a private residence located on reclaimed land in Okinawa, Japan, and designed by Studio Cochi Architects for a family of three. Situated within a dense and mixed-use urban landscape, the 91-square-meter concrete house was conceived as an ""urban oasis"" that provides a tranquil, private living environment while adapting to Okinawa's humid climate and typhoon-prone conditions. To achieve privacy and buffer the inhabitants from the bustling surroundings, Studio Cochi Architects enclosed the house in a fortress-like shell of thick, exposed concrete walls, minimizing exterior-facing windows. Instead of relying on conventional windows, the architects integrated two north-south oriented courtyards and a skylight to draw in natural light and promote ventilation. The north-facing courtyard, with its gradual buffer zone, connects with a tatami room and the main entrance, while the south-facing courtyard creates a thick, solid buffer from the busy commercial district. The house's interior is defined by a raw and minimalist aesthetic, with the concrete shell left exposed, complemented by precise geometric compositions and lines. The ground floor contains public areas, such as the living room, kitchen, and tatami room, and the upper floor is reserved for more private spaces, including the bedrooms and bathrooms. The staircase leading to the upper floor is wider than typical to serve as a secondary seating area. By carefully controlling the interplay of light and solid surfaces, Studio Cochi Architects created a series of intimate, serene spaces that offer refuge from the chaotic urban environment. Credits Architects: Studio Cochi Architects (Toshiyuki Igarashi, Hiroyuki Inaoka) Structural Designers: RGB Structure (Masayuki Takata) Builder: Nansei Corporation Photographer: Ooki Jingu"

"The Yatsugatake Annex is a 43-square-meter weekend residence in Hokuto, Japan, designed by Takanori Ineyama Architects and completed in 2017. It was built for a couple who primarily live in Tokyo but spend weekends and holidays in the mountainous Yamanashi prefecture, and the home is intended to be a comfortable secondary base for their family of five, including three children. The design is a clever response to the surroundings, where the site is relatively large but still located in an area with villas and residences. To achieve privacy while maintaining a connection to the environment, the architects designed the house to open or close to the surroundings, a strategy described as ""closing with one wall"". The house is L-shaped and wrapped with a light-toned wooden exterior that conceals the more private areas while creating an open central living area. The layout was designed to give new value to the site by properly placing different personality spaces, such as the living and dining areas, within an environment created by the ""one wall"". Inside, the home has a minimalist and warm aesthetic, featuring light-toned wooden walls and ceilings. A mezzanine level with an open, airy feel offers unique views and an elevated space for relaxation or play. Credits Architects: Takanori Ineyama Architects (Takanori Ineyama) Structural Design: Building Structure Institute (Kazuyuki Ohara, Shuichi Takahashi) Construction: M's-A Photography: Koichi Torimura"

"The Ogimachi House is a minimalist residential retreat in Nagoya, Japan, designed by Tomoaki Uno Architects and completed in 2019. The house was commissioned by a client for his mother, who needed a secluded and peaceful space to recover from an illness. To create a quiet, therapeutic environment that ensures privacy, the architects constructed a windowless cubic volume on a narrow lot, drawing light and air instead from the ceiling. The exterior is defined by a traditional Japanese approach to construction, with cedar siding joined without nails, a technique known as itakura. This method, originally used for storehouses, provides excellent fire resistance and thermal insulation. The interior continues the minimalist aesthetic with a stripped-back material palette centered on natural cypress and cedar woods. Natural light enters through 37 skylights—32 fixed and 5 operable—which cast dynamic, moving shadows on the wooden surfaces throughout the day. The interior is a minimalist and uncluttered space, with bespoke essential furniture and soothing neutral hues. The layout consists of a grid-like central area surrounded by a double-height corridor. The ground floor features open-plan living, dining, and kitchen areas, along with a bedroom, toilet, and washroom. A winding staircase leads to the upper floor, which contains four more private rooms, a small bridge, and a linear balcony. This design balances the need for privacy and solitude with an open flow that encourages tranquility and well-being, creating a space for reflection and recovery. Credits Architect: Tomoaki Uno Architects Lead Architect: Tomoaki Uno Photography: Ben Hosking"

Reflection of Mineral is a futuristic and abstract micro-home located in Tokyo, Japan, designed by Atelier Tekuto and completed in 2006. The project was a response to the client's desire for an exciting, volume-maximizing home with a covered garage on a small, irregularly shaped corner lot in a densely populated urban area. The design drew inspiration from the concepts of a "mineral" and "reflection." The multifaceted, polygonal shape was a direct result of maximizing the buildable volume within the confines of three different height restrictions. This process was likened to cutting a precious gemstone. The pristine white facade contrasts with the urban context, emphasizing its distinct geometric form. The "reflection" concept: Inside, the interplay of light and geometry creates a dynamic, fluid sense of space, expanding the perceived boundaries of the compact interior. Transparent and translucent surfaces, as well as mirrored finishes on the third-floor bathroom unit, induce visual reflection that changes as people move or as light shifts. Despite its small footprint (around 86 square meters across four levels, including a basement), the interior feels much more expansive due to the clever design. Strategic window placements, particularly on the corners, draw the eye along diagonals, increasing the sense of depth. The functional elements, such as the kitchen, counter shelves, and floors, contrast with the abstractness of the building's overall polyhedron shape. Reflective stainless steel in the bathroom and carefully considered interior appointments further the themes of mineral and reflection. A small plaza-like space on the ground floor, created by elevating the house with a piloti, provides a rare sense of openness in the tight urban setting. Project credits Architects: Atelier Tekuto Design Team: Yasuhiro Yamashita, Yoichi Tanaka Structural Design: Takeyuki Gaino / G.Design Construction: Shigeki Matsuoka / Home Builder Photographer: Makoto Yoshida Location: Nakano ward, Tokyo, Japan Completion Year: 2006