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.
