LEAF

The site is located in a quiet residential neighborhood in the heart of Tokyo, where the client run a dentistry clinic as husband and wife practitioners. Their relatives have also built and live on the premises. The concept in this case has been to have the house enclose a large central courtyard so that all of its rooms will face the garden, to create an intermediate area between the indoors and the outside world.

While it is impossible to imagine the interior living space based on the dark gray galvalume-steel outer wall or the closed façade made of half-mirrored glass, moving inside one becomes conscious of the comfortable contrast afforded by the expansive space, suffused with natural light.

The gentle light shining in through the full-height windows beside the entrance on the first floor creates the air of a chic entrance space based on grey tones. One can relax in the master bedroom or children’s room while enjoying the view of the stewartia trees planted in the central courtyard, while a hotel-inspired bathroom has been installed at the back. Privacy has also been carefully ensured.

Meanwhile, the second floor offers a public area in which the whole family can relax, with a living-dining kitchen as well as free space and a small study. Looking up at the ceiling, the actual rafters – the most prominent feature of this house – transition from the interior to the exterior, where they transform into a pergola. The sky is trimmed by a striped pattern evoking the veins of a leaf that crosses the inside and outside of the house along the simple gabled roofline, while the space is imbued with a sense of depth by the play of light and shadow projected into the room.

The effects of the exterior pergola and LOW-E glass help to realize a luxurious lifestyle of movement back and forth between an indoor living room that does not require air conditioning even in summer and an outdoor living room reminiscent of a sun room.