hiroyuki shinozaki architecture: house Y for two families

‘house Y’ is a home for two families, situated in a residential neighbourhood of tokyo, away from the highrises and busy streets of the shinjuku quarterphoto by fumihiko ikemotoall image courtesy of hiroyuki shinozaki architecture

situated in a residential area of tokyo, away from the highrises and busy streets of shinjuku is ‘house Y’, a small dwelling on a corner site which has been conceived to accommodate two families. the exterior is composed of a 120mm thick shell of concrete, with the material applied on the interior as well, where it forms the 300mm floating structural floors which extendoff of a central foyer. this entrance hall serves as a communal area between both homes, while also dividing them. it has been openly designed so that the rooms of each residence–kitchen, bedroom, living and dining areas–situated on opposite sidesof this shaft, have views into the four-storey void. in designing the shared space, hiroyuki shinozaki architects wanted to make it ‘adjustable’,taking into account the changes in family life with each of the rooms having been made to increase in size.

the floors are made from wood beamsphoto by fumihiko ikemoto

bird’s-eye view into the living and kitchen area of one of the homesphoto by fumihiko ikemoto

staircase connecting the four-story homephoto by fumihiko ikemoto

300mm thick concrete floating floors connect the rooms and stairsphoto by fumihiko ikemoto

a view up the four-storey void which divides the two homesphoto by fumihiko ikemoto

the rooms have been designed so that they can increase in size, adjusting to the changes in family lifephoto by fumihiko ikemoto

entryphoto by fumihiko ikemoto

project info:

client:  two familieslocation: tokyo, japansite area: 76.09sqmbuilt area: 52.20sqmgross floor area: 131.13sqmcompletion date: feb 2013structure: reinforced concrete and wood flame, 3storystructure engineer: tatsumi terado structural studiocontractor: sinei, ltd.photographer: fumihiko ikemoto