The Skyward House is a small cottage designed for a single woman by architect Kazuhiko Kishimoto of acaa. The cottage looks unassuming from the road below but it has a remarkable interior designed to feel much larger than its 67.1 m2 (722 ft2). The architect divided the small floor plan into two distinct zones, outwardly-focused spaces that connect to the surroundings and a dynamic inward-focused space.
from 2nd bedroom’s interior window | © Sadao Hotta
This small Japanese house is fairly unremarkable on the outside. It is interesting enough with its green metal cladding and inset entry, but not particularly outstanding. Step inside though and the Gate house leaves a very different impression. For such a small house it has an extremely visually stimulating interior. There are unexpected openings and views no matter where you look.
The Gate house sits on a narrow lot in Tokyo. With only 4.5 m (14′ 9″) of width to work with, the house had to be long and skinny. And with neighboring houses sitting close by on both sides, there was limited opportunity to provide views to the outdoors from all rooms. Instead, the architects from mihadesign created a dynamic interior to engage the occupants at every turn, substituting interesting internal views for external ones.
This small house in Tokyo sits on a tiny lot in a neighborhood of apartment buildings. Because of the small lot size, the only way to get sufficient living area was to build up, four stories tall. From the outside, the most distinguishing characteristic of the boxy house are the two glass facades which reveal a staircase winding around the perimeter of the home. On the inside, that staircase defines the character of the space. A tightly-wound staircase that zig-zagged back and forth over itself would have been more space-efficient. Instead, architect Hideaki Takayanagi opted for a stair that rises in a wide arc, sacrificing some space in favor of architectural interest.
