WHAT WE DO IS SECRET

“Setagaya-D” by Rico Turu

^Who: rico turu architects studio ^What: Single family residence (2 adults + 1 child) ^Where: Setagaya, Tokyo ^When: 2007 (completion) ^How: Three-story steel frame construction ^{Site Area:} 1057 square feet (98.20m²) ^{Construction Area:} 633 square feet (58.79m²) ^{Total Floor Area:} 1373 square feet (127.54m²) ^{Photographer:} Nobuaki Nakagawa ^Website: www.ricot.com ^Tag(s): Female architect, Rico Turu

Photos © Nobuaki Nakagawa

This house, for a couple with their children, is built in a typical dense residential district in Tokyo. The site is a long and slender rectangle, 6.4 meters (21 ft.) from east to west, and 15 meters (49 ft.) from north to south.

Four wings of differing volumes, stand in a line from the road frontage along the site shape. Two of them are two-story and another two are three-story. They are shifting right and left, and produce small private gardens. Each wings has large windows, and also in gaining illumination from the gaps produced by the shifting layout, they become brightly lit rooms.

Living in this house, one experiences house interior and environmental scenery at a time. From the living room, one sees the interior of the dining room, and the view of roof terrace, and the exterior wall of neighbor house in parallel. From the children’s room, one sees the scenery of the roof of neighbor and the view of the wings with the living room, over the roof terrace. So one gains a sense of living freely in a town landscape beyond the limits of the building and site boundaries.

Rico Turu / rico turu architects studio