Integrating Greenery, Water, and Light to Coexists with Nature
Yayoi House is a single-family residence for a family of four in Yayoi, Bunkyo, Tokyo. Conceived around the idea of bringing natural cycles into everyday urban life, the house integrates greenery, water, and light to create a home that coexists with nature.
The two-story house places the entrance, staircase, bathroom, and other service areas on the ground floor. Behind the two-car garage is a studio designed for both work and hobbies. The second floor is organized around a living, dining, and kitchen space with a nearly 6m-high ceiling, connected to the master bedroom, two children’s rooms, and the wife’s hobby room featuring three fish tanks and an aquarium.
Plants, a biotope, and other landscape elements surround the site, bringing nature closer to daily life. After an initial period of ecological establishment, the biotope is designed to develop into a self-sustaining ecosystem where aquatic plants, plankton, and fish reach a natural balance. Its changing environment can be observed from both the entrance and a semicircular interior window. Climbing plants such as bitter gourd cover the exterior walls, while rainwater flows along open drainage channels and the façade into the biotope. This system also prevents fallen leaves from the neighboring University of Tokyo campus from clogging conventional drains. A small garden outside the bathroom and nutrients produced by the kitchen food-waste processor further reinforce the home’s ecological cycle.
The main living space is defined by two large semicircular skylights positioned diagonally from one another. A two-story void, rising nearly 6m, allows sunlight and moonlight entering through the skylights to spread across the exposed concrete walls, filling the interior with natural light. Three sliding doors open the living room to the terrace, creating a continuous indoor-outdoor space, while surrounding planting provides privacy from neighboring houses. Together, these elements demonstrate an urban way of living that embraces nature.
Project: YAYOI HOUSE / Location: Bunkyo, Tokyo, Japan / Architect: Takeshi Hosaka Architects (Takeshi Hosaka) / Project team: Megumi Hosaka, Takayuki Kitamura / Construction: Twenty-first century constructions Co., Ltd. / Woodwork: Yamahiro / Furniture: Matsumoto Furniture Factory / Structural engineer: Nawakenji-M (Kenji Nawa) / Electrical engineer: Akura EEC / Lighting engineer: BONBORI Lighting Architect & Associates,Inc. / Client: Mr.Y.Suzuki / Use: House / Site area: 202.86m2 / Bldg. area: 120.92m2 / Gross floor area: 218.55m2 / Bldg. coverage ratio: 59.61% / Gross floor ratio: 90.12% / Building height: 10,320mm / Building scale: 2F / Structure: Reinforced concrete / Exterior finishing: urethane coating waterproofing, lightweight aggregate concrete, galvanized steel sheet vertical seam roofing, concrete structure / Interior finishing: wood solid flooing, Exposed RC concrete / Design: 2021.9-2022.9 / Construction: 2022.9-2024.1 / Completion: 2024.1 / Movie: ©Ryuto Fujii / Photograph: ©Noboru Inoue (courtesy of the architect)
