Presented with an impossibly narrow slice of land in Tokyo’s Ota-ku suburb, architects Takuya Tsuchida and Kano Hirano of No. Unable to build out, the architects built up: Each of the two stories has a loft.
Photography by Ryoma Suzuki, courtesy of No.
The back of the house abuts a verdant park. 555 flipped so that the rough, usually hidden side is exposed.
An open kitchen runs along the second floor anchored by living and dining balconies at either end.
The Living Floor
The open kitchen is composed of larch plywood finished with translucent white Osmo Wood Wax—a combination also used for the wall storage, vent cover, and Miele dishwasher panel.
No closed doors: A Muji Refrigerator and shelves with a microwave and toaster oven are incorporated into the dining area.
The balcony overlooks the park—and provides the small structure with a sense of expansiveness.
The ceiling beams and wooden stair treads play off each other in a rhythmic pattern.
The living area is oriented to the front, south-facing balcony and brightened by a skylight.
The Sleep Loft
The bed is angled under the eaves next to a sloping side window.
The house’s lone bath is on the ground floor—”it’s a small house, so not a long trip,” Hirano says. The room doubles as the laundry: That’s a combination washer and dryer from Muji finished with a larch plywood counter that matches the open shelf.
The Bathroom
The rakish tub is a Kaldewei TForm Bathtub, a model made to be inset but here used with an exposed frame.
The Ground Floor Entry and Atelier
The product designer’s workshop is right off the front door.
555’s cross-section of the design details the loft spaces over each of the floors.
Shoehorned into a group of narrow houses, the structure opens to parkland in the back.