artechnic: M&M rosie, tokyo

‘rosie house’ by artechnic, tokyo, japanall images courtesy of artechnic

on a pentagonal-shaped property line oriented towards the west, the ‘rosie house’ by japanese firm artechnic arose from the architects’desire to turn the disadvantage of site into the beauty of the architecture. the extremely narrow site also came with strict height regulations,as the surrounding houses to the north must still receive natural light. as a result, the house uses the only two parallel axes as the base walls,with the rest of the building using each of the odd angles of its context to inform the footprint of the house and its relationship to the site; it finds comfort in its irregularity. to tackle the height issue, the ground floor is lowered below grade on a floor slab that integrates into the rigid reinforced concrete structure, in this way the second floor containing the bedrooms may benefit from plenty of daylight and exterior balconieswithout screening its neighbors. the backyard space is occupied by a wooden deck with a sharp angle used to accentuate the sight lines of the house.the interior is finished with plaster and paint and topped with hardwood floors to create a warmer liveable space. the air conditioning/heater isplaced under the floor and exits into the space at the peripheral registers like a combination air conditioning/radiant floor heating system.

balcony connected into exposed shear wall

house contains many different angles

stairs to grade/ upper floor with bedrooms

front door

view to the front door from the upstairs

kitchen and living room below grade

upstairs bathroom

floor plan / level 0

floor plan / level 1

project info:

location: setagaya, tokyo, japanuse: private residencestructure: reinforced concretesite area: 232 m2total floor area: 151 m2