na house is a good example of my soft spot for tiny japanese houses. i really like the modern ones, which somehow manage to shrink to unbelievable sizes. still, they look incredibly cute and are fully functional.

house na sao fujimoto architects tokyo 1

the na house is not exactly tiny. but it is transparent and located on one of those cute little tokyo streets. i just see myself wandering around to find it and then just hanging around for a while to enjoy it from all angles.

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it belongs to a young couple and it was made by sou fujimoto architects (click here for another of their whimsical tokyo dwellings).

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the na house looks like it’s a glass house, the few walls and the white structure emphasizing the illusion. i believe it’s great if you love light but i wonder how well prepared it is for extreme temperatures. but then again, few japanese dwellings are well-insulated.

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its 85 sqm are divided into 21 floor plates set at various heights. the concept was that of living in a tree as the clients wanted to feel like nomads while living in their home.

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the floor plates are heated and curtains provide temporary separation and privacy in case of need.

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this eerie video is by vincent hecht, a french architect currently residing in tokyo and working with sou fujimoto architects. the video is part of a new collection of architecture movies about japanese architecture and it’s amazing!

i found another video which shows the inside of the house. watch it to see how the house looks like at night and with the curtains drawn.

a model of the house was exhibited at mot – museum of contemporary art tokyo. it was part of a show curated by yuko hasegawa (the in-house chief curator) and sanaa (kazuyo sejima + ryue nishizawa). the show was called architectural environments for tomorrow – new spatial practices in architecture and art.

na house sao fujimoto mot

i hope i will find my way to the na house on a sunny summer day!

photo and video credits: archdaily, iwan baan, vimeo, vincent hecht

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