Industrial Designer House, Setagaya, Tokyo, Japan

This is a house for an industrial designer, standing in a quiet residential area in metropolitan Tokyo. It was required that it be not only private in nature but also in harmony with the client's feelings for his life's work, industrial design.

Indoor garage

During the process of putting together the requirements, it became clear that the client wished to have an indoor garage for his beloved vehicle, a study with a view to the car, a living and dining space where his industrial products will be displayed and a completely separated guest room and bedroom.

On the other hand, considering that the act of thinking about design is part of the client's daily life, the division between designing and living needed to be as ambiguous as possible.

While focusing on fulfilling the requested functions, each room was divided and softly connected together at the same time.

Living area

The living / dining room is a core, with its large opening that provides external views and natural light. Sunlight and landscape are introduced to the rooms connected to this core through internal openings, in a smooth and indirect manner. All elements are made into a primitive space composed of purely architectural factors such as floor, wall, ceiling, stairs, voids and openings.

The result is an internal space as an abstract substance: a valley of walls on the third floor, a refreshing expanse in the living / dining room on second floor, and a cave-like study and garage on the ground floor.

A steel-frame structure was adopted for an easier expression of the softly connected sequences.

Taking advantage of the steel's lightness and strength, some rooms are suspended while others feature beams with dynamic skip, in order to realise a sense of free flow within the entire space. Steel sheet used on exterior walls also serves as a window glazing system, expressing in an abstract manner to the outside the flow of space set free by the frame.