House in Minamiyukigaya is a minimal home located in Tokyo, Japan, designed by Hugo Kohno Architect Associates. The building contains two independent residences?one for a mother and the other for her son and his family?which were designed with the possibility in mind of eventually turning them into rental units.

The mother occupies the first floor, while her son, his wife, and their child are on the second and third floors. The third floor was handled as a single volume containing private areas such as the master and child?s bedrooms and the bathroom. The first floor was also treated as a single volume offset from the third floor volume so as to open up space for a terrace on the first floor roof. In between these two volumes, the second floor is bounded by two continuous surfaces that fit together like puzzle pieces, embracing an open living room that is integrated with the terrace. In order to bring as much light into the first floor as possible despite the apartment building on the south side, the first floor roof slopes up steeply on that side and has a skylight along the elevated edge.

Photography by Seiichi Ohsawa.

...