House I / Yoshichika Takagi

Architects: Yoshichika Takagi + Associates
Area: 100 m²
Year: 2010
Photography: Toshiyuki Yano
Construction: Daisuke Hasegawa & Partners
City: Akita
Country: Japan

House i, designed by Yoshichika Takagi + Associates and completed in 2010, is located in the heart of Akita City, Japan. The 100 m² residence is surrounded by car parks, presenting a challenge in balancing privacy with openness. The design addresses this by arranging box-like enclosed rooms with gaps between them, creating a sense of depth and spaciousness within the compact urban site.

Given the site’s exposure on all four sides, it was essential to design a structure that ensures privacy while avoiding a conventional, front-facing facade. The result is a home that feels both secluded and connected to its surroundings, offering a thoughtful response to the unique challenges posed by its location.

To maintain privacy, the design encloses the rooms within the structure, which also helps regulate the indoor environment in the northern climate. However, a fully enclosed structure might feel too closed off, so the challenge was to create a layout that preserves privacy while also providing a sense of openness to the surrounding space.

The design process began by identifying the rooms that required enclosure—such as the kitchen, bathroom, toilet, bedroom, and storage room—encasing them in box-like structures. These enclosed spaces are arranged like pleats, creating gaps of various sizes between them. These gap areas add depth to the space and create an illusion of more space beyond what is directly visible. The frames within the walls of these boxes overlap, making the entire space feel like a series of mirrors reflecting different views.

The house follows simple design rules: rooms that require enclosure are placed within boxes, and those that do not are positioned in the gaps between these boxes. This approach results in a complex structure that gives the impression of an expansive space despite the compact design.