A stack of intersecting concrete and metal cuboids combines to create this long, narrow home in Shiga, Japan by FORM/Kouichi Kimura Architects.
Located on a suburban site surrounded by low buildings and wide roads, the new home is called Slender House.

The home was built on a 7.5 metre by 17 metre site for a young family that needed a series of flexible spaces.
"In the vicinity are houses built by house-building companies or local builders we aimed to build a house that possessed a dignified presence in such a cluttered townscape," said the practice.

The home is split roughly into three blocks ? a slim, concrete entrance hall at ground level, an overhanging, black rendered form above, and a two-storey, corrugated metal-clad form at the rear. Given the exposed nature of its site, these blocks were configured to frame views out but minimise views in, with carefully positioned windows. The largest of these are located at either end of the home, while the long side elevations have only a few small openings.

"The dynamic configuration of box-shaped volumes with a rhythmic layout of windows produces beautiful life scenes where light and scenery are taken in while overlooking from the neighbours is blocked," founder Kouichi Kimura told Dezeen.

Two entrances sit on either side of the concrete ground floor, opening onto a long hallway that leads to the children's bedroom and a bathroom at the back of the house.

"The internal space has been planned aroun...