Architects:MAMM DESIGN

Area :115 m²

Year :2016

Photographs :Takumi Ota

Lead Architects :Maya Mada, Akira Mada

Structure :Ohno JAPAN

Country : Japan

The site faces a street on the west side. All other sides are surrounded by neighboring houses on the east and south side, and a mid-rise apartment building on the north side. After considering everything the client required for the house, there was not enough ground space left for a garden.

By separating the volume into small boxes and placing them at different positions, we avoided otherwise claustrophobic conditions. After doing meticulous research and studies of different box placements, our final design allows each box to have natural ventilation and controlled sunlight through the gaps between the boxes. The differing heights, and horizontal and vertical shifts also contribute to this effect. As a result, almost all the terraced roofs are covered with greenery and become secondary grounds.