Slender timber columns frame the living spaces in Forest of Pillars, a block of two family homes in Fukushima, Japan, designed by local studio IGArchitects to reference the forest of thin trees at the rear of the site.
The project was designed for two families who wanted to live in the same building but have their own independent spaces.
Drawing both on the nearby trees and traditional timber homes in Japan, IGArchitects designed the structure around a narrow grid of timber columns that act as a means of organising the flexible interiors.
The home's exterior is wrapped with panels of corrugated metal
"Just as a natural forest looks chaotic when there is order in the plants and creatures, I challenged myself to create something that looks chaotic in accordance with the order created by the rules and structure of Japanese wooden structures," IGArchitects founder Masato Igarashi told Dezeen. "The pillars are placed an equal distance of 1.8 metres to each other as a structure, but also, their size of 90 millimetres squared makes their density like furniture that is close to human scale," he added.
The plan of the building bends slightly to follow the site's outline, with a central wall splitting it into two separate, single-storey homes accessed by a single set of double doors.
Clerestory windows beneath the roof draw daylight into the interior
Each half of the building contains a block with a bathroom and kitchen, while the remainder of the space has been l...