Screens of concrete panels surround Block Wall House, a triangular home that design studio Nendo has nestled into a forest in Japan.
Located in Japan's Nagano Prefecture, the home has a long triangular form extending 110 metres along the side of a road, which winds through the forested landscape.
Nendo has screened the house from passing traffic by enclosing it in walls of concrete blocks, but positioned gaps between them to preserve views of the lush surroundings.
Concrete panels screen the home from the nearby road
"Ensuring privacy and offering a sense of openness while living in the interior space are generally conflicting goals," the studio told Dezeen.
"In this project, however, we tried to achieve both through the design of the enclosing walls, aiming for a house that is completely surrounded by these walls." To form the screens, over two thousand small concrete blocks were set within a horizontal concrete grid at a range of angles, creating varying levels of light and privacy in different places. In areas where additional privacy is required, there are two rows of blocks.
Gaps in the walls help preserve views of the forest
"In areas with a single row, the view is set in one direction," the studio explained. "With two rows overlapping, the view on the other side is visible only when the block angles in the front and back rows align, otherwise, the view is obstructed," it continued.
"From the public road, the house appears ...