This Tokyo home for a young family occupies a privileged corner plot within a serene residential neighbourhood in the heart of Tokyo. Its architects, locally based Japanese architecture studio Apollo, founded by Satoshi Kurosaki, aimed for the design – titled Le49Ⅱ – to provide both a luxurious dwelling and a generous and functional home working base for its owners.
Le49Ⅱ by Apollo: a contemporary Tokyo home
The project offers little clue of its multitasking goings on from the street, hidden behind its minimalist architecture and geometric façade made of charcoal grey Galvalume steel walls, grey natural-granite retaining walls, and resin wood louvres. A large opening on the top floor, alongside its terrace, offers a hint of the life inside the home's walls.
The workspaces are tucked away on the lower ground floor. The ground level contains the entrance, as well as the bedrooms and bathrooms. Meanwhile, the upper floor's piano nobile is reserved for the home's expansive living spaces, dramatically placed under an exposed pitched roof and tall ceilings (although the kitchen and dining area feature a lower internal height to create a cosier feeling and a welcome sense of compression).
'Le49 II provides an ideal space for allowing each family member to express their individuality while fostering a sense of family unity. The home gives true expression to the concept of compact luxury,' the architects write.
Apollo's award-winning portfolio includes a wealth of residences, such as Timeless, also in Tokyo, as well as Grigio, which was nominated for the Wallpaper* Design Award's Best Private House in 2015.
-
This cult Los Angeles pop-up restaurant now has a permanent addressChef Brian Baik’s Corridor 109 makes its permanent debut in Melrose Hill. No surprise, it's now one of the hardest tables in town to book
-
French bistro restaurant Maset channels the ease of the Mediterranean in LondonThis Marylebone restaurant is shaped by the coastal flavours, materials and rhythms of southern France
-
How ethical is Google Street View, asks Jon Rafman in CopenhagenIn 'Report a Concern - the Nine Eyes Archives' at Louisiana Museum of Art, Copenhagen, Jon Rafman considers technology's existential implications
-
Matsuya Ginza lounge is a glossy haven at Tokyo’s century-old department storeA new VIP lounge inside Tokyo’s Matsuya Ginza department store, designed by I-IN, balances modernity and elegance
-
The Architecture Edit: Wallpaper’s houses of the monthThis September, Wallpaper highlighted a striking mix of architecture – from iconic modernist homes newly up for sale to the dramatic transformation of a crumbling Scottish cottage. These are the projects that caught our eye
-
Utopian, modular, futuristic: was Japanese Metabolism architecture's raddest movement?We take a deep dive into Japanese Metabolism, the pioneering and relatively short-lived 20th-century architecture movement with a worldwide impact; explore our ultimate guide
-
A new Tadao Ando monograph unveils the creative process guiding the architect's practiceNew monograph ‘Tadao Ando. Sketches, Drawings, and Architecture’ by Taschen charts decades of creative work by the Japanese modernist master
-
A Tokyo home’s mysterious, brutalist façade hides a secret urban retreatDesigned by Apollo Architects, Tokyo home Stealth House evokes the feeling of a secluded resort, packaged up neatly into a private residence
-
Landscape architect Taichi Saito: ‘I hope to create gentle landscapes that allow people’s hearts to feel at ease’We meet Taichi Saito and his 'gentle' landscapes, as the Japanese designer discusses his desire for a 'deep and meaningful' connection between humans and the natural world
-
Campaigners propose reuse to save Kenzo Tange’s modernist ‘Ship Gymnasium’ in JapanThe Pritzker Prize-winning architect’s former Kagawa Prefectural Gymnasium is at risk of demolition; we caught up with the campaigners who hope to save it
-
A new photo book explores the symbolic beauty of the Japanese garden‘Modern Japanese Gardens’ from Thames & Hudson traces the 20th-century evolution of these serene spaces, where every element has a purpose
