UNEMORI ARCHITECTS connects two family houses with lush garden alley in tokyo

‘houses’ by Unemori architects

Japanese firm UNEMORI ARCHITECTS has completed a residential complex with two adjoining houses for two families who want to live independently but also support each other. Set in Tokyo, Japan, the project features two narrow houses on either side of the site, as well as a garden and studio at the heart of the ensemble. These common areas encourage residents to interact with each other while maintaining a sense of intimacy and privacy between them.

the project settles in quiet residential area with lots of greenery | all images by Kai Nakamura

a buffer zone alley serving as a common garden

UNEMORI ARCHITECTS has placed the two houses in a quiet residential area with lots of greenery. One of the buildings belongs to Hiroyuki Unemori, the lead architect of the Japanese architectural practice, while the second belongs to his sister-in-law’s family. The two families, while living independently, wanted to create a shared space to enjoy a lifestyle that allows a sense of expansion that is difficult to achieve as a single household.

Between the two houses there is an alley about 16 meters long and 1.8 meters wide, which serves as access to the two houses. The alley is a passage garden and a buffer zone that helps to maintain a proper distance between the two families. With a tent sprawled across it, plants, and a pool of water, the alley allows members of the two families to come and go directly without having to pass through their respective entrances. This space is meant to be a vaguely intermediate zone that functions as part of the interior space and at the same time belongs to the exterior space.

the roof level has been carefully adapted to allow natural light within the rooms

generous sky views and visual connections

Each building takes the form of a contiguous space that looks like a single room and has different floor and roof levels. The roof level has been carefully adapted to allow privacy, views, light penetration into the rooms and the alley, and ventilation. Both houses generate spacious living environments that look to the sky, and offer views of the wall surfaces of the other rooms and the terrace on the other side of the alley. This convex-concave and irregular space were built with several wooden keel beams laid lengthwise. The expandable space allows the sense of life to grow and expand beyond the physical realm. The goal is to create ecological coherence by bringing together small places.

the convex-concave and irregular living space was built with several wooden keel beams laid lengthwise

the expandable space allows the sense of life to grow and expand beyond the physical realm.

project info: 

name: Houses
architects: UNEMORI ARCHITECTS

structural engineers: HSC
landscape: Inada Takio Landscape Design Office + soil
environmental engineers: DE.lab
furniture: UNEMORI ARCHITECTS
curtains: Studio Onder de Linde
lighting: DAIKO
general constructor: SANRYO CONSTRUCTION FIRM
furniture contractor: STILLE
location: Tokyo, Japan
total floor area: 73.05 sqm (House A), 83.13 sqm (House B)
photo: Kai Nakamura