Is it a result of limited urban space? Is it because earthquake damage in the region demands more frequent rebuilding? Or is it a reflection of Japanese culture? Whatever it is, Tokyo is home to some of the most unusual homes on the planet, home that those of us in other parts of the world might look at and think: ‘I’m not sure I’d want to live in that’. Here’s five buildings that the Zouk team might think twice about before relocating.
1. Transparent house
If privacy is important to you, Japanese architect Sou Fujimoto is probably not the guy you want to commission to build you a house. The clue is in the name with this one. It’s a house, but it’s almost entirely transparent.
2. Narrow Horinouchi house
Believe it or not, there’s a bedroom, kitchen, living room, and dining room on the top floor of this building. They’re probably not very big, but you’ve got a river view to make up for that. And there’s even a ‘sheltered parking space’ beneath the first floor overhang. If you can call that sheltered.
3. The Cat House
If you’ve got kids, you’ll need a house that can cater for them. If you work from home, you’ll probably need an office. But what about your cat? Whilst most people would be happy for their cat to just deal with it, apparently not everyone feels that way, with this Tokyo home designed around the movements of the client’s cat.
4. Slide house
Stairs are a bit 20th century, right? This Tokyo home has three floors, with a slide running through all of them. If you’re the sort of person who needs to get downstairs quickly, you might actually want to live in this one.
5. House on house on house
Sou Fujimoto is at it again, with a development we have featured on the Zouk blog before. If you’re after a traditional-shaped house with walls that people can’t see through and an ordinary pitched roof, then you
could get that here. Except these houses are piled one on top of the other, creating a tower of ‘normal’ houses.