Japanese architect Tsubasa Iwahashi has added a new timber house to an existing house in a forest in Okayama, Japan. The ‘hut’ as he calls it, is a comfortable house for two filled with daylight and connected to the surrounding nature with open-air spaces and wide windows.
Iwahashi designed the hut for a couple who wanted to live closer to their family. There’s sufficient independence to the new living space because of the surrounding forest, but also a beautiful connectivity between the two structures.
The roof of the hut is also the roof of the newly extended kitchen of the main house. The overarching roof therefore brings the inhabitants together over the experience of eating and drinking.
Lightness and openness define the design. A ground floor passageway has become an airy arbour for garden work and hobbys. From the large bedroom windows on the first floor, a balcony can be reached from which to enjoy the tree canopies and the breeze. A cosier living space above provides some privacy and a comforting sense of enclosure in contrast.
Architect Tsubasa Iwahashi founded his atelier in 2010 in Osaka after studying architecture in Kobe. He was featured in the Wallpaper* Architects’ Directory 2018 with a minimalist cube house in Osaka with a timber interior structure that defined the living spaces and flow of daylight through the space.
-
Teresa Pągowska's dreamy interpretations of the female form are in London for the first time‘Shadow Self’ in Thaddaeus Ropac’s 18th-century townhouse gallery in London, presents the first UK solo exhibition of Pągowska’s work
-
We preview Expo 2025 Osaka: what to expect and who will be thereExpo 2025 Osaka prepares to throw open its doors in April; we preview the world festival, its developments and highlights
-
The new MASP expansion in São Paulo goes tallMuseu de Arte de São Paulo Assis Chateaubriand (MASP) expands with a project named after Pietro Maria Bardi (the institution's first director), designed by Metro Architects
-
We preview Expo 2025 Osaka: what to expect and who will be thereExpo 2025 Osaka prepares to throw open its doors in April; we preview the world festival, its developments and highlights
-
Ten contemporary homes that are pushing the boundaries of architectureA new book detailing 59 visually intriguing and technologically impressive contemporary houses shines a light on how architecture is evolving
-
And the RIBA Royal Gold Medal 2025 goes to... SANAA!The RIBA Royal Gold Medal 2025 winner is announced – Japanese studio SANAA scoops the prestigious architecture industry accolade
-
Architect Sou Fujimoto explains how the ‘idea of the forest’ is central to everythingSou Fujimoto has been masterminding the upcoming Expo 2025 Osaka for the past five years, as the site’s design producer. To mark the 2025 Wallpaper* Design Awards, the Japanese architect talks to us about 2024, the year ahead, and materiality, nature, diversity and technological advances
-
Tadao Ando: the self-taught contemporary architecture master who 'converts feelings into physical form’Tadao Ando is a self-taught architect who rose to become one of contemporary architecture's biggest stars. Here, we explore the Japanese master's origins, journey and finest works
-
The Kumagaya House in Saitama is a modest family home subdivided by a soaring interiorThis Kumagaya House is a domestic puzzle box taking the art of the Japanese house to another level as it intersects a minimal interior with exterior spaces, balconies and walkways
-
Shigeru Ban wins 2024 Praemium Imperiale Architecture AwardThe 2024 Praemium Imperiale Architecture Award goes to Japanese architect Shigeru Ban
-
Pace Tokyo is a flowing Sou Fujimoto experience that ‘guides visitors through the space’Art gallery Pace Tokyo, designed by Sou Fujimoto in a Studio Heatherwick development, opens in the Japanese capital
