Architects: Plan21
Area: 94 m²
Year: 2021
Photographs: Akira Ueda
City: Kakamigahara
Country: Japan
House with a Small Garden by Plan21 centers around a 3×4 meter garden, enclosed by low stone walls and a translucent roof with louvers. This garden serves as a porch, outdoor dining area, and nap space. In densely packed Japanese towns, the design solves the challenge of garden space by dividing the house into a main volume and a subvolume, creating garden space between them. This method softens the building’s silhouette and integrates it into the townscape. The neighboring houses, designed similarly, create a cohesive sequence of three houses completed over the past seven years.
A small garden is the central theme of this house, measuring 3×4 meters. Enclosed by low stone walls, the garden floor is finished with soil and topped with a translucent roof with louvers.
This garden serves multiple purposes: it acts as a porch for accessing the house from the street, an outdoor dining area, and a place to nap. In Japanese towns, where houses are often built on small lots, allocating space for a garden can be challenging. To address this, the design divides the building into a main volume (living room, kitchen, etc.) and a subvolume (bedroom, bathroom).
By sliding these volumes together, space is created for the garden. This simple method not only creates garden space but also softens the building’s silhouette, helping it blend into the surroundings. The building and garden become united, forming part of the townscape.
The adjacent houses were designed similarly. The house on the right was completed seven years ago, and the one on the left five years ago. Together with this house in the middle, they form a cohesive townscape with three consecutive houses.
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Project Location
Address: Kakamigahara City, Gifu Prefecture, Japan
Location is for general reference and may represent a city or country, not necessarily a precise address.
