sinato builds three-story wooden house in tokyo as intricate single room

sinato has built a three-story wood + concrete house titled naritahigashi S in tokyo, japan, shifting and layering its floors while adding small openings and gaps to connect the entire interior. seeking for the perfect balance between privacy and openness amidst the busy, crowded surroundings, the japanese architecture studio has developed the whole house as an intricate single room, where each level is connected to the rest. with a total floor area of 71 sqm, each floor is designed at the scale of a piece of furniture rather than of architecture, making residents feel as if they are moving through a large bed or bench.

all images by toshiyuki yano

tall adjacent buildings, a wide busy road and a bus stop surround the naritahigashi S house, while the only open space available is the neighbor’s entrance area. under such crowded circumstances, sinato has sought for the perfect balance between privacy and openness, prioritizing the free passing of natural light and wind throughout the interior. by shifting and layering the three floors, small openings and gaps occur to connect the entire house, resulting in an intricate single room.

besides the physical connection of the interior spaces, the small, 25 sqm floors are also connected to the exterior environment. for instance, when one sits on the second level, they can see the bus stop through the window, right at their eye height, without being seen from the outside. or, when one lies down and looks the opposite way, they face the greenery of the adjacent apartment.

‘look down towards the entrance and the shoe storage becomes your table, and you hear your family’s laughter from the living room through the small opening above,’ explains sinato. ‘these connections bring the environment, landscape and architecture itself closer to a human scale, which nourishes a strong attachment to the everyday life in this house.’