atelier A5: A.house

‘A.house’ by atelier A5 in zenpukuji, suginami-ku, tokyo japan images courtesy of atelier A5 / © kenichi suzuki

japanese architects, atelier A5 have designed ‘A.house’, a single family home located in downtown tokyo, japan. the required functions of the combination live / work environment dictated the evolution and design of the residence which was also bound by local regulations for the site.

the gradually shifting stacked cubes relate to the programmatic function it accommodates, reducing in size as the use of the space becomes more private. housed on the ground floor is a gallery for the homeowner – a jewelry designer – followed by the living room, dining room and kitchen on the first floor and a small bedroom with an adjoining private terrace on the second floor.

looking into the ground floor gallery

in order to maintain privacy from the dense neighborhood, the majority of the windows were moved from the walls on to the ceiling where they appear as slits that are cut from the structure. sunlight filters in from above, defining the perimeter of the room and consuming the area left unused by the offset volumes.

gallery

corrugated steel cladding unites the three structures, which are only momentarily interrupted by select and simplified openings. inside, materialization is kept to a minimum, utilizing only wood, concrete and the color white to create space that endlessly flow from one to another. 

gallery

living room, dining room, kitchen 

living room, dining room, kitchen 

bedroom and terrace

detail of staircase

lavatory

exterior

floor plan / level 0

floor plan / level 1

floor plan / level 2

section

project info:

architects: sadahiro shimizu, masatoshi matsuzaki, yuko shimizu structural engineers: hayata matou site area: 82.22sqm building area: 43.47sqm total floor area: 88.06sqm structure: wood structure