ninkipen!’s pentagonal hook house encloses a childhood family garden in japan

ninkipen! completes hook house in habikino, japan

In Habikino, Osaka Prefecture, the Hook House is devised to host a quiet dialogue of continuity. Japanese studio ninkipen! has built the residence for a family of four beside the owner’s birthplace with a design that builds upon the history of the site — steeped in childhood memories as well as ancient traditions of grape and fig cultivation.

The adjacent original home is a U-shaped structure with gardens housing Japanese pines, camellias, and weeping plum trees planted by the owner’s late father, and flowering agapanthus and ajuga cared for by his mother. Hook House completes this tableau, forming a gentle enclosure around the garden, shaped from a rich palette of various woods. Its low lying form completes a pentagon at the farthest edge of the site, subtly bulging outward like a hook.

rich palette of woods forms an enclosure around the garden

This distinct geometry of obtuse angles softens the boundary between the old and new with natural intention, and the shared courtyard within — now planted with new vegetation — becomes reimagined as a bridge between the two homes. In dialogue with its natural context — backdropped by the contours of the Kawachi plains and the iconic Ikoma and Kongo mountains — House House exudes a quiet unassuming presence. Ninkipen! infuses the project with a raw natural character defined by Kumano cedar pillars, Yoshino cypress floors, and zelkova, rattan, oak, and black cherry woods as accents.

The Osaka-based architects top the house with a striking pentagonal roof, which devoid of supports, transitions seamlessly into a hipped roof. A single round pillar wrapped in black paper cords anchors it as a centerpiece in the living room. On the home’s southeast side, frosted glass is fitted to maintain privacy while letting in soft, diffused light. The blurred silhouette of the crape myrtle tree beyond poetically creeps into the room, creating a sense of connection to the outside world that enhances the calm within.

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project info:

name: Hook House

architect: ninkipen! | @ninkipen

location: Habikino, Osaka Prefecture, Japan

lead architect: Yasuo Imazu

general constructor: Nakaseko Koumuten

structural engineer: Ippei Yasue / WORK SHOP

garden landscaping: Youhei Miyake / NIWADUKURIMIYAKE

photographer: Hiroki Kawata