This small cube home is a tree-loving private residence. Why tree-loving? Because it doesn’t want to interact with the street, it closes itself from the street; its simple geometric cube volumes on the lower levels are minimal, as if growing higher and higher, where finally opening up onto a large volume with a splendid window overlooking a blossoming cherry tree… Marvelous!! Continue reading →

This spectacular house is situated among a densely built-up detached and semi-detached houses in Hiroshima, Japan. The facade surfaces are covered with dark timber, giving it the look of a contemporary wooden hut… With one peculiarity: The first floor has been lifted above the ground floor and a void has been created as a result.

But just as the human body has its bones and muscles, the architectural body has its structure elements and vertical communication channels. These came to be seen anatomically after lifting one floor above the other. I can even see the white steel supports going even thinner and thinner in the process of pulling the part of the upper body. I can see the transparent glass skin appearing around the staircase after the transformation. Continue reading →

Do you believe in miracles? Let me introduce you to one in particular. In Fujisawa, Japan there´s a very small site where Japanese architects, ON design, definitely transformed less into more. ‘The house with empty lot’ is a private residence for a musician and a surfer couple, featuring only 62, 98 sq. m. of building area.

Situated on a tight space with barely no open facades, the volume is conceived as a hybrid living space with an individual ‘tiny house’ on each side. This spatial separation provides the privacy required for the coexistence of two different hobbies and lifestyles. Continue reading →

It’s hard to say how the concept of the 47% House’s shape appeared in the heads of the architects, but it seems to me that the original point was to design a roof as a shell. The idea of looking at a roof as something bigger than just the cover of the upper part of a structure; instead, looking at it as an independent structure by itself; a shelter for all spaces of a home – whether outdoors or indoors. Continue reading →

Sometimes restrictions lead to outstanding results! The Belly House, by Japanese architect Tomohiro Hata, brilliantly testifies to that. In Kyoto, Japan, there are several laws which restrict external volume, shape, materials and color. So actually when you think of it the exterior appearance of this house was already decided. A pre-defined ‘package’ works as a starting point to a marvelous architectural solution. Continue reading →

The House with Eaves and an Attic (yes, there is a house there, behind the huge roof) is situated on a small plot at the top of a hill in Tokyo. The aim was to create a spectacular appearance of a building and to utilize all the space you possibly can out of the dramatically small site on the edge of the slope. Continue reading →

Somewhere in Kunamoto, Japan, nestled among lavish green landscapes was born the ultimate statement of wooden architecture. Sou Fujimoto is the creator of a masterpiece: the Wooden Hut.

In this 15, 13 sq.m. cube-shaped mountain shelter, cedar wood timbers establish the only rule that fulfills all the following functions: exterior and interior walls, ceiling and floor, furnishing and stairs, even window frames. In fact, this unique mountain cabin is basically conceived by stacks of 350mm square timbers, joined together. Continue reading →

Located in Tokyo, this small house is extremely white, almost ghostly, but also sweet and cute, just like the cartoonist figure of Casper – the friendly ghost. And as an old good Casper animation film does, this building arouses nice, joyful emotions. As the song goes “All you need is love”; in architecture and design, it can be put this way: “All you need is joy and surprise”. That’s why I’m in love with this house. It brings joy and surprise, to me at least. Continue reading →

Of all five senses, architecture often can´t capture one in particular: flavor. The Black Teahouse by a1 architects is a fine example of how to honour or even approach such an impossible task. Sitting beside a lake surrounded by woodland near the city of Ceska Lipa, Czech Republic, this ‘temple for tea’ has only 13, 50 sq. m. and is composed by an interior room that extends outside into a large veranda built with larch planks. Continue reading →

As I saw the Horinouchi House in Tokyo I was immediately fascinated! It was love at first sight, and I’m not exaggerating. First of all, the shape of the house is really catchy, even if you don’t admire the proportions or color, the image of the house itself is so positive that I’m sure you can’t help smiling (…because I am, all the time, while writing this).

Some people might laugh at me (again, it’s always good to give somebody a reason to smile), nevertheless I’m deeply convinced that this project is a fine example of what modern architecture is all about: to give one’s imagination some food, not to leave one careless, to be interesting, and to be positive in its idea and message. To me, all of this is carried out beautifully in the Horinouchi House. Continue reading →