自建别墅丨日本丨Sou Fujimoto

Japanese architect Sou Fujimoto has nestled a curved holiday home under a planted garden on Ishigaki Island, Japan, for hotelier Not A Hotel.

Named Earth, the concrete holiday home and its garden form a circular shape, designed by Fujimoto to blend into the landscape.

Earth is a curved holiday home on Ishigaki Island

On one side, a curving white wall encloses the garden, which slopes up and over the crescent-shaped home facing towards the sea.

Designed to accommodate up to 10 guests, the rentable villa was created for Not A Hotel, which has multiple holiday homes in locations across Japan.

The living and dining room overlooks the sea

"The building is circular, and the roof is bowl-shaped, creating a gentle hilly design that allows guests to feel Ishigaki's lush greenery and crystal blue ocean from inside the rooms," said Fujimoto.

"The roof is covered with greenery, and when viewed from above, the house disappears into the surroundings."

A curving pool wraps the house

An oval-shaped terrace cuts into the sloping garden and leads to a living and dining room on the home's upper level.

Sliding glass doors in the living area open onto an infinity pool that hugs the outer curve of the villa.

Elsewhere on the upper level are three bedrooms, a playroom, and a bathroom with a low-lying bathtub that overlooks a shallow outdoor pool.

The lower level of the home contains a gym, cold bath and sauna room with a skylight set underneath the shallow pool, creating dappled patterns of light.

A shallow pool forms a water feature outside the bathroom

"The light that shines into the water basin on the second floor pours in through the skylights of the sauna room, creating a unique space that makes guests feel as if they're at the bottom of the ocean," said Fujimoto.

Among the rooftop planting, designed by landscape gardener Taichi Saito, Fujimoto added a circular fire pit and water feature designed for children.

The pool filters light through a skylight into the sauna

Other projects recently completed by Fujimoto include the world's largest wooden structure encircling the Expo 2025 Osaka, and a stone visitors centre created for a champagne house in France.

Elsewhere in Japan, Not a Hotel is set to open a sweeping holiday home by Snøhetta located in a ski resort, and a trio of curved villas by BIG.

The photography is by Newcolour Inc.