House in South Minoh is a minimal residence located in Minoh, Japan, designed by Fujiwaramuro Architects. The clients, a couple with children, originally came to the firm with a request to renovate the childhood home of one partner to accommodate two households, theirs and their parents. However, partway through the planning process, they decided instead to search for a new property and build a single-family residence. Although the clients were not looking in a specific area, they decided to focus close to the husband’s workplace and eventually found this triangular site on a quiet residential street. Although the street was only about two meters across, barely wide enough for a car to drive down, the family liked the atmosphere and location.

The two-story interior has an entryway, master bedroom, children’s rooms, and bathroom downstairs, and a living room, dining room, and kitchen upstairs. The bedrooms face the spacious entryway, with high ceilings in the children’s rooms to accommodate lofts. Louvered floors in part of the upstairs allow visibility between levels. The portions of the second floor facing the street, whose odd shapes result from the height limitations, are effectively put to use as balconies visually linked to the interior spaces. The blocky exterior shape is echoed in the interior spaces, creating a unified interior and exterior design.

Photography by Toshiyuki Yano

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