Most of us think of a house as a set of walls that contain an interior space. But on a tiny lot in Japan, architect Ryue Nishizawa has designed a house that blurs the distinction between indoors and out. Almost all the exterior walls have been replaced with glass panels, railings, and curtains to create a strange, wonderful garden-house hybrid.
The house is spread out over five stories, with furniture and plants co-mingling at each level. There's a kitchen on the first level, a bedroom on the second and fourth levels, and a bathroom on the third. In its playful use of space and willful disregard of tradition notions of 'inside' and 'outside', it reminds me less of any house I've ever seen than of the fanciful structures I used to build with Legos as a kid.
What do you think? I'm not sure I'd want to live in a place like this year-round...but I bet you could have some amazing garden parties.
For more photos and floorplans, visit Today and Tomorrow and Domus.
Images: Domus, via Today and Tomorrow.
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I love it. But trekking to the 3rd floor every time I needed to use the bathroom would get old, really quick. And the roof in particular does not seem like a kid-friendly design, if a family lives there.
i don't think i'd mind any of the bathroom trekking, but i know i would absolutely love all those windows and plants! if they ever need a roomy : )
This house is amazing! I love how the plants "balance out" the modern edges of the building.
A lot more beautiful than my tiny house in Tokyo.
Just worried the glass walls. Are they safe when a big earthquake occurs in Tokyo again? It is a thin tall building. It might be shaken a lot then.
i love it! i'd move there in a second!
As a piece of architecture and a living concept, it's wonderful. As a piece of interior design... not so much. In a home reliant on the vision for indoor/outdoor living, it's unforgivable (from a design perspective) to have the plants dumped in cheap, mismatched plastic pots. They look like random additions, not items central to the concept.
Pretty cool...notbsureni like the curtain thing butnthenroof is awesome And I like the light
this is the way it should be... esp since the carbon tax is coming to Australia in 5 months. add in solar panels, water tanks plus all those plants would probably result in zero tax paid by the homeowner.
i do believe by the time our children are adults they would be living in homes like these. i'd move in with them if it looked like this.
Lovely concept, and I like the idea of bringing a garden inside. :)
But, doesn't Tokoyo get cold in the winter? Does the house stay warm in the winter with so many windows? And, how secure is a glass/curtain house (every city has a bit of crime)?
I love it! I would move- in in a second!
That top view picture gives me vertigo.
But very cool.
its a great house but the sad point is there is nothing green but potted plants in the area. they have up alot of useable space for exposed decks. the hole in the top scares me. apparently there are no building codes in japan.
I love the concept, but it doesn't look like it would get very good light, surrounded as it is by all those much taller buildings.
fabulous.