An Urban Garden, Tokyo Edition by

Issue 62 · Japonesque · March 5, 2013

An Urban Garden, Tokyo Edition

Issue 62 · Japonesque · March 5, 2013

Can you imagine if every room in your house had its own garden? If you lived in a palace, mansion, or manor house, perhaps. But what if you lived in a 13-foot-wide, five-story house in a commercially dense section of Tokyo?

Composed of a series of structural slabs and glass walls, this house and workplace designed by Japanese architect Ryue Nishizawa appears wall-less and light-filled; perfect conditions for the plants in all those gardens.

Photography by Iwan Baan via Design Boom.

Above: The hard edges of the concrete slabs are softened by the abundance of green plants.

Above: Plants and curtains provide a screen of privacy from the dense urban street traffic.

Above: A plant-filled office provides pleasant working conditions.

Above: A curtain on a wraparound track provides separation between office and bedroom on the second floor.

Above: Every room from living room to bathroom has a garden of its own—a pure luxury anywhere, but particularly in an urban environment.

Above: A staircase fits into the a cutout in the concrete slab.

Above: A cutout on the fifth-story slab allows for extra-tall plants.

Above: A view to the sky above.

Above: The "wall-less" house allows light to flood into a very narrow house on a sliver site between two tall buildings.

Above: The architect's diagram aptly captures the spirit of the house.

Who doesn't love a plant-filled house? See 1,041 images of Plants in Houses in our Gallery of rooms and spaces.



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