THE TWIST is a small rental apartment building with an atelier on the 1st floor and basement. (Relocated from Nakamachidai Atelier)
Although it is located in Yoyogi, an urban area, the site has inherited a lot of greenery, so we planned to keep the footprint small in order to preserve that precious greenery.
In the detailed design, the second floor is angled to the west to avoid the autumn leaves that we wanted to preserve, and the top fourth floor is angled to the east to avoid shade restrictions...its twisted appearance has led to it being called THE TWIST.

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The polyhedron was originally created as a roof structure to gently encase the interior space of a building, but this sense of envelopment eventually became increasingly rounded, resembling a spaceship...it could perhaps be called the ultimate polyhedron.
The site, located in a residential area of Tokyo, was triangular. One side of the triangle faces the road, and the site is about 2m above the road surface. In other words, the road side was a retaining wall, so I restored the land to its original state and envisioned a polyhedral structure gently descending from the sky. The silver-gray shining polyhedron gently descended onto the green plateau.
Inside the polyhedron is a tea room and an atelier for painting, creating a mysterious space that has an infinite expanse despite its small size. The tea room is sometimes used as a guest room for guests to stay. ... The polyhedron is a special space for a house.
All the elements of daily life are designed below the plateau, and are directly connected to the polyhedron by elevator. Daily life is completed below the plateau, but the polyhedron is a different world that can be visited for special occasions such as tea ceremonies or when one wants to get away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life.
 

Rather than living far away from the city center, they wanted to live high up in the sky in the city center while taking advantage of the volume of a small plot of land, and if possible, enjoy the cherry blossoms on the road in front. That was the answer the client found.
The site was in Hatchobori and was so small that only one car could be parked there.
This building has five split-level floors, each with its own role, with the bedroom on the top floor and the bathroom on the same level, but the bathtub is entered from the short side and spills out onto the staircase landing.
The second floor above ground was used as the main room (living room, dining room, kitchen) with an open ceiling of about 8m. A tatami stage was prepared in the middle of the open ceiling, i.e. the third floor, to match the level of the rows of cherry blossom trees, and the dream of "having a drink while enjoying cherry blossom viewing" was finally realized as promised.

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Although it is located on the edge of a new residential area in Nasu-Shiobara city, the site has a unique environment, being slightly higher than the surrounding area and facing a lush forest. The house was designed by carefully interpreting the dialogue with the existing environment.
At first glance, this structure, measuring 4.5m in height and 26m in length, does not resemble a residential structure; it is in fact a gate to a green forest. Its polyhedral roof harmonizes with the surrounding Mount Nasu and the woods, while the interior enjoys a gentle space enveloped in the shadows of natural light.
The main structure is a hybrid of wood with some reinforced concrete and steel construction, and the complex roof structure is solved by reinforcing the joints and connections of the wooden space truss with custom-made metal fittings.
The interior space is composed of a three-dimensional split-level floor, allowing one to sense various connections to the lush forest depending on one's position, but the polyhedral ceiling envelops this diversity, making it a unified space under a single roof.
For the exterior, seasonal plants were carefully selected and placed with consideration for the climate.The outdoor stairs and paving stones make use of the characteristics of local Ashino stone, and the landscape design is conscious of the continuity of the building and the existing environment beyond the site.

Light-dark-light contrast is the theme of this house.
The idea behind this architectural space is to encourage the movement of the family, avoiding monotony and creating a more varied lifestyle. The design is intended to have the family's life moving around in circles, with the open courtyard (outdoor void space) at the center.
The main room of this house is a continuous space in the shape of a U, surrounding a courtyard that receives bright sunlight. The main room, where people gather, is connected to another garden where the parents live, and the sequence of garden-room-garden, that is, light-dark-light, overlaps with the movement of the people who live there.
This architecture is imbued with the desire to be kind to strangers and not reject them. Just as a closed gate that seems visible but is not, draws you into a bright space with shining greenery behind it, the succession of light-dark-light, while maintaining the safety of a definite private domain for the inhabitants, seems to let a little of the happiness that exists within leak out...

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I feel like I have always had the idea of "forming a city inside a house." The theme was, "Can we create a house that resonates with the energy of modern Japanese urban spaces?"
The land given to the house, which was separate from the original residence, was the former site of a parking lot that ran parallel to the road in front. The land itself seemed to have been thrown directly out into society, and was defenseless and without a place to stay. A three-story concrete box with a stairwell was erected on this defenseless land to secure a safe territory. A two-story steel-framed box (private area) is suspended from the outside, but the ground level is open and serves as a covered parking space. The inside of the box is free, and when you open the front door, you will find that the stairwell is already three stories high, and the whole space is composed of a three-dimensional space, but you won't notice it right away. On the third floor, a Japanese-style room made of wooden joists floats. Furthermore, bookshelves are lined up all over one of the structural walls, creating an aerial library. It has become a house worthy of being called a space opened up to the "city within the structural body".