Ηouse in Minamiyukigaya

Located in an alleyway off a shopping street, the residential project is closely bounded to the East by a road and to the South by a three-story apartment building, and is designed to respond to the densely developed area of Tokyo, Japan.
With a partial shell of galvanised aluminium coated steel sheets, the wooden building contains two independent residences, one on the ground floor, and another comprising the first and second floors. The second floor was handled as a single volume containing private areas such as the master and child’s bedrooms and the bathroom. The ground floor was also treated as a single volume offset from the second floor volume so as to open up space for a terrace on the ground-floor roof. In between these two volumes, the first 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 maximise natural light into the ground floor, despite the apartment building on the southern side, the ground-floor roof slopes up steeply on that side and has a skylight along the elevated edge that enables light diffusion indoors.
On the first floor, this slope becomes a slanted wall extending the floor of the roof balcony upwards, thereby blocking visibility from the corridor of the adjacent apartment building. Trees planted along the elevated edge of the roof further shield the home from the top floor of the apartment building and enriches the incoming light inside, with shifting patterns of greenery.

Hugo Kohno Architect Associates