Houzz Tour: Sun-Soaked Family Home in a Dense Tokyo District
This family home makes the most of a small site with floods of lights and open spaces made for entertaining
In Japan’s largest cities, land is expensive and so-called flag lots, or flagpole lots – where one needs to first take a narrow road to access a wider one – are not unusual. The lot on which Split House stands is one such example. While a flag lot has the advantage of affordability, it can be hemmed in by surrounding homes and may also lack privacy, sunlight and good ventilation. But architects Yuri Naruse and Jun Inokuma of Naruse Inokuma Architects showed that with the right design it is possible to build a bright, comfortable home even on a flag lot.
“It’s a comparatively big lot for one near the city centre, but to tell the truth, when I first saw it, I thought it was small,” Naruse says. While the west side faces the grounds of a primary school and is free of obstruction, the other three sides of the lot are next to neighbouring houses.
If privacy is the only consideration, then small windows are best. But the family wanted a feeling of openness. With that in mind, architects Naruse and Inokuma proposed putting in clerestory windows, spanning a full 360 degrees, between the first and second floors. Split House, the home’s name, comes from the split-in-two appearance created by the clerestory windows between the home’s upper and lower parts.
If privacy is the only consideration, then small windows are best. But the family wanted a feeling of openness. With that in mind, architects Naruse and Inokuma proposed putting in clerestory windows, spanning a full 360 degrees, between the first and second floors. Split House, the home’s name, comes from the split-in-two appearance created by the clerestory windows between the home’s upper and lower parts.
“The couple didn’t mind small bedrooms, and their top priority was a spacious living room where the boys could play on rainy days. So we joined the kitchen, dining room and living room into one big space. It occupies about two-thirds of the ground floor,” Inokuma says.
The clerestory windows use glass with high thermal insulation performance, including frosted glass, for places where the view from neighbouring houses is a concern. Some windows also open for ventilation.
Light entering the interior from all four sides radiates off the white walls and concrete floor, filling the interior and greatly enhancing the sense of spaciousness of the living room that is the centre of the home. At night, three pendant lights over the table and spotlights in the ceiling bathe the room in warm light.
The clerestory windows use glass with high thermal insulation performance, including frosted glass, for places where the view from neighbouring houses is a concern. Some windows also open for ventilation.
Light entering the interior from all four sides radiates off the white walls and concrete floor, filling the interior and greatly enhancing the sense of spaciousness of the living room that is the centre of the home. At night, three pendant lights over the table and spotlights in the ceiling bathe the room in warm light.
The ground floor interior gets its generous open feeling from the 3-metre ceiling and the absence of walled-in rooms, other than the closet near the entrance, the Japanese-style tatami-mat room and the den.
Braces join to pillars at a slant. The architects selected wood for the pillars and worked out the angles of the braces so they would have the appearance of tree branches. The stairs on the left lead from the ground floor to the mezzanine level.
Braces join to pillars at a slant. The architects selected wood for the pillars and worked out the angles of the braces so they would have the appearance of tree branches. The stairs on the left lead from the ground floor to the mezzanine level.
From the mezzanine, stairs go to the second floor, where the bedrooms and other private spaces are located.
Right now, the three boys sleep in one room. At some point a wall will be placed in the centre of the room to make two rooms, and doors and windows will be installed on each side. The room next to the bedroom will eventually be used by the boys during university entrance exam season.
The boys’ bath time can create a commotion. Even though there is a dressing room next to the bathroom, the boys undress in the hallway and toss their dirty clothes into a big laundry hamper. Built-in shelves in the hallway reaching to the ceiling are shared by the five family members and are without doors for more flexibility.
The shelves along the living room wall display the couple’s collection of snow domes. The open shelves have a depth and height big enough for the biggest pieces on their collection. The white wall next to the shelves can serve as a projection screen.
Designing a home with this much spaciousness presented a number of challenges. One of them was finding ways to keep rooms cool in hot weather.
“An air conditioner was not likely to be very effective even if one was installed, so the client wanted a home that could get by without cooling even in the summer,” Inokuma says. “With that in mind, we installed a skylight window in the centre of the second floor.”
Opening the skylight window and the ground-floor window facing the garden allows air to circulate throughout the home. The skylight window also brings in light to the middle of the second floor, and areas where light from the clerestory windows does not reach.
Winter heating is provided only by a floor heater in the ground-floor living room. A small cooler is installed in the Japanese-style room for summer, but it has been used only a few times.
“An air conditioner was not likely to be very effective even if one was installed, so the client wanted a home that could get by without cooling even in the summer,” Inokuma says. “With that in mind, we installed a skylight window in the centre of the second floor.”
Opening the skylight window and the ground-floor window facing the garden allows air to circulate throughout the home. The skylight window also brings in light to the middle of the second floor, and areas where light from the clerestory windows does not reach.
Winter heating is provided only by a floor heater in the ground-floor living room. A small cooler is installed in the Japanese-style room for summer, but it has been used only a few times.
“We share the same lifestyle vision, and exchanging ideas at meetings went smoothly,” Naruse says of the couple. “They were delighted by everything we suggested, so the design process was a pleasure for us.” The kitchen follows the kitchen design of Setagaya Flat, another home designed by Naruse and Inokuma that the owners had liked since before their collaboration.
“The couple loves to cook and they love to invite and entertain lots of guests,” Naruse says. “Usually, when the children are still little, people want an island kitchen, but the husband said he likes to cook facing the wall, so we situated the kitchen in the corner and put a big table in the dining area. The architects designed the home’s 90-centimetre-wide, nearly 2.7-metre-long table for 10 adults enjoying a leisurely meal.
While the adults talk, the children do homework at the other end of the table, play with blocks on the mezzanine or ride their favourite red tricycle around the room.
Every day many of the boys’ friends come over to play because the home is popular in the neighbourhood too.
TELL US
What element of this modern Japanese home do you like best? Share your thoughts in the Comments below.
TELL US
What element of this modern Japanese home do you like best? Share your thoughts in the Comments below.
Houzz at a Glance
Location: Tokyo area, Japan
Who lives here: A married couple in their 40s and three sons
Designers: Naruse Inokuma Architects
Around the time when the homeowners began looking for land in the city on which to build a house for their family, a lot went on the market near where they were living at the time. The couple had a very clear image of the lifestyle they wanted for themselves and their three boys, who are all under age 10. After seeing pictures of the work of Naruse and Inokuma and liking what they saw, they contacted their office.