With a flag shaped site, bound on every side by close neighbors, the understandable instinct might be to step away from the city, retreat behind walls where privacy is better assured. The family that purchased the site saw instead a chance to be as open as possible, using the small degree of isolation as an opportunity to connect to the metropolis from a slight remove. Although the neighbors are close, the tendency in Tokyo is to reject the city and build closed walls, ironically allowing the family to take the opposite stance and open their home without loss of privacy. In this way the site is not unlike a clearing in the midst of a forest.

© Takumi Ota

Architects: frontofficetokyo
Location: Tokyo, Japan

Architect In Charge: Will Galloway, Koen Klinkers, Misuzu Yoshikawa, Joris Berkhout

Area: 120.0 sqm

Project Year: 2016

Photographs: Takumi Ota

Design: Koen Klinkers, Will Galloway, Misuzu Yoshikawa, Joris Berkhout

Structure: Low Fat Structure; Taro Yokoyama, Tomoyuki Kudoh

© Takumi Ota

With a flag shaped site, bound on every side by close neighbors, the understandable instinct might be to step away from the city, retreat behind walls where privacy is better assured. The family that purchased the site saw instead a chance to be as open as possible, using the small deg...