This project, titled House at Hommachi, consists of a super skinny home set among one of Tokyo’s bustling residential neighborhoods. The house is just 3 meters wide with the site having an overall width of 4 meters.
It’s been designed by local architecture firm Atelier HAKO. Being local, the team of designers are familiar with the spacial constraints and challenges that Tokyo can present.
House in Hommachi features three storeys that create a total floor area of 753 square feet (70 square meters). Because of it’s limited size, the designers focused on developing a home with open plan rooms, split levels, and windows that would introduce light at every possible opportunity.
They removed unnecessary circulation spaces, like corridors, in order to maximize room size. With limited options for windows along the sides of the building, skylights were introduced. Light from the skylights is allowed to filter down from the upper levels through voids in the floors.
From the architects: “The dynamism, accompanied by the mixture of horizontal and vertical directions in the interior space of this house, resulted in a unique enjoyable sequence and a spacious barrier-free feeling. We tried to create fluidity of the internal space by providing the openings toward the various directions, and providing the floors as continuous elements to the spiral staircase.”
The first floor is home to an entryway and the master bedroom. The next level up serves as the home’s main living space with a living room, dining area and kitchen.
On the third floor you’ll find a set of capsule bedrooms (rooms big enough to accommodate a single bed with a study desk), along with the bathroom/washroom. They’re also able to access the roof which has a small terrace and overlooks the built-up city scape.
For more small and tiny Japanese houses check out Uzi House, a private residence that plays with light and shadow. Or, this young family home which features shared and open living spaces. See all Japanese houses.
Via Dezeen
Photos: Urban Arts
narrow house in Tokyo I love it. always great use of space and materials in the Japanese new builds. very liveable until the knees and hips give out and make stairs impossible. or perhaps the knees and hips aging out of use is unique to tall Afican tribes and Nordic caucasions.
Where is the toilet? I followed the link to the Dezeen article, but I can not interpret the plan. On first glance, I gave this a higher rating than most because of the good design sense displayed by not having the crapper attached to the kitchen, but closer inspection revealed the light well which could allow aerosolized pathogens ejected from the toilet to more easily travel to the kitchen/dining area. Granted, this is much better than having the bowl three feet from the food preparation surfaces but still not nearly enough optimized for my sensibilities. I do not understand the curved metal railing on the roof deck. Setback requirement? My preference would also be to have a solid wall taller than waist high so as not to be public like a frog…an outdoor shower would be nice, too.
AJ… curved railing on the roof is to stop people from accidentally damaging/falling onto the either of the skylights on diagonally opposite corners of the roof.
Why on earth would you want an outdoor shower on the roof? And from what we can see from the pictures the height of the house is above surrounding houses roof lines so not an issue of people seeing you like a frog (whatever that means).
Paul, If one follows the link to the originating Dezeen article, the skylights are represented as both being on only one side of the penthouse, so your statement/conclusion is incorrect. I would want the shower and the toilet to be al fresco for hygiene, air quality, and sensory-aesthetic reasons. Speaking of the toilet, where is it in the plan? A solid wall would allow the residents to enjoy the roof wearing minimal or no clothing. I would not want passers-by looking up my sarong or otherwise gawk at motions. Frog trope is from Emily Dickinson #260.