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Les six portes

Les six portes

Tokyo, Japan

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Other Projects by AMANE ARCHITECTS

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Les six portes

Tokyo, Japan

Firm

AMANE ARCHITECTS

Type

Residential › Apartment Multi Unit Housing

STATUS

Built

YEAR

2021

SIZE

3000 sqft - 5000 sqft

BUDGET

$1M - 5M

― Gathering in Our Own Ways ―
In a quiet residential district of Setagaya, three aging houses were consolidated and transformed into a four unit residence with rental components, allowing multiple families to live together while sharing the property. Local regulations require a one point five meter setback from the property line. We treated this setback as a meaningful resource, designing it as approach paths and gardens, and aligning it with the one point five meter corridor required for row house classification under the Building Standards Act.

Every neighborhood carries its own sense of scale. It cannot be measured by building height or floor area ratio alone. It emerges from the width of streets and pavement, the presence of poles and wires, the shapes of roofs and placement of walls and trees, and the simplicity or complexity of exterior surfaces. By varying the building height, we gently divided the volume, while using a single calm color and simple expression through wet applied external insulation. The four owner occupied units and two rental units are arranged in a staggered plan, each with its own small garden at the front. This creates individual approaches and distinct spatial experiences, while maintaining an overall unity.

The former buildings were refined residences built in the early Showa era. Portions of their materials were reused to inherit memories, while adapting spatial expression to each household’s preferences. In wall finishes, tiles, and carpentry, we carefully responded to the details each resident cared about, preserving memories of existing furniture and fittings while creating a contemporary living environment. As a consequence, though it is a collective dwelling, it avoids uniform monotony, and each home retains the feeling of living in a detached house.

To live collectively is not to dilute individual desires into an average. This architecture is both collective housing and a series of individually crafted homes. Because each is a custom home, the residents must be able to enjoy what should be considered ordinary. By ordinary, we mean feeling natural elements such as sunlight and wind, and sensing the passing of seasons and time in daily life. By staggering the building form, we ensured light and air from all four cardinal directions for every unit, resulting in spaces that feel pleasant to be in. We pursued forms and expressions that meet the preferences of each household, while ensuring equal enjoyment of these ordinary qualities. In the end, this produced a shared yet individualistic whole, a distinctive shape born from many personal choices.

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Team

Taro SHIMOKAWA

architect

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Les six portes

Tokyo, Japan

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Les six portes

Tokyo, Japan

Other Projects by AMANE ARCHITECTS

House D

OND STUDIO

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Les six portes

Tokyo, Japan

Product Spec Sheet

Collaborating Firms

Team