Architect
Sou Fujimoto Architects
Bathroom and plumbing
Wada Kogyo
Building services engineering
Kimuradenki Corporation
© Daici Ano
© Daici Ano
© Iwan Baan
© Daici Ano
"This development, known by the name of “House before House”, is located in a residential area of Utsunomiya in Japan. The design is based on the concept that people live not just in indoors, but in the outdoor realm, too. In this experimental scheme, therefore, the architects did not understand the home just as a limited space; they developed their idea along the lines of a village structure, with individual “buildings”, open areas and stairways. Indoors and outdoors, the house and the garden, form a spatial continuum. This interpretation is both timeless and futuristic. It also reflects the Japanese tradition of the dwelling, in which one seeks to attain a harmony between natural and man-made things."