In this small house called “Setagaya-S” in Tokyo, architect Rico Turu draws a nice distinction between the common area (living/dining room, kitchen and bathroom) and the bedroom for the client couple who have a child.

Photos © SATOSHI ASAKAWA
 

Although from the outside it is just ‘one’ house with a gable roof, the top floor in the cross section of this house looks like a tiny house sitting on top of a small two-story building.

If you look at the north and south elevation plans, each plan shows a wide opening on the roof running almost from the front to the back of the house. These openings on the roof give plenty of natural light and an open atmosphere to the common area while the house-shaped bedroom stays enclosed within four walls and a gable ceiling.

Images courtesy of rico turu architects studio.
 

This house is built on a gentle slope, and its main entrance is on the basement level which is mostly exposed on the west facade. The east side of the basement level which is deepest in the ground is a few feet above ground.

Now let’s move up to the first floor (which is more like the second floor of this house).

…to the second (top) floor.

There are two small terraces. The terrace on the first floor opens from the living/dining room. The bathroom on the second floor opens onto the smaller terrace.

The “tiny house” a.k.a. master bedroom.

^Who: rico turu architects studio  
^What: Single family residence (2 adults + a child)  
^Where: Setagaya, Tokyo  
^When: 2008 (completion)  
^How: Two stories w/basement, steel frame construction  
^{Site Area:} 782 square feet (72.65m²)  
^{Construction Area:} 466 square feet (43.29m²)  
^{Total Floor Area:} 1064 square feet (98.81m²)  
^{Photographer:} Satoshi Asakawa  
^Website: www.ricot.com  
^Tag(s): Female architect, Rico Turu

Photos © SATOSHI ASAKAWA
 

^Who: rico turu architects studio   ^What: Single family residence (2 adults + 1 child)   ^Where: Setagaya, Tokyo   ^When: 2007 (completion)   ^How: Three-story steel frame construction   ^{Site Area:} 1057 square feet (98.20m²)   ^{Construction Area:} 633 square feet (58.79m²)   ^{Total Floor Area:} 1373 square feet (127.54m²)   ^{Photographer:} Nobuaki Nakagawa   ^Website: www.ricot.com   ^Tag(s): Female architect, Rico Turu

Photos © Nobuaki Nakagawa
 

This house, for a couple with their children, is built in a typical dense residential district in Tokyo. The site is a long and slender rectangle, 6.4 meters (21 ft.) from east to west, and 15 meters (49 ft.) from north to south.

Four wings of differing volumes, stand in a line from the road frontage along the site shape. Two of them are two-story and another two are three-story. They are shifting right and left, and produce small private gardens. Each wings has large windows, and also in gaining illumination from the gaps produced by the shifting layout, they become brightly lit rooms.

Living in this house, one experiences house interior and environmental scenery at a time. From the living room, one sees the interior of the dining room, and the view of roof terrace, and the exterior wall of neighbor house in parallel. From the children’s room, one sees the scenery of the roof of neighbor and the view of the wings with the living room, over the roof terrace. So one gains a sense of living freely in a town landscape beyond the limits of the building and site boundaries.

Rico Turu / rico turu architects studio