The Scoop Landscape House opens up to Tokyo’s views
Japanese practice Not Architects Studio is behind The Scoop Landscape House, an unusual Tokyo home
![The Scoop Landscape House, n o t architects, Tokyo](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/rBdPEo7JQ3tGQttcyZRxw-415-80.jpg)
The perpetually engaging housing laboratory that is suburban Japan continues to delight. The Scoop Landscape House is a new project by Not Architects Studio, a side project set up by Tetsushi Tominaga and Lisa Ono, together with Aoi Nahata.
Ono’s concept design for this 101 sq m Japanese house was to create a space that ‘scooped up’ the best views and fragments of cityscape surrounding the modest lot in Ota City, a residential district just south of Tokyo’s city centre.
The site conditions were typical of the area, with a compact plot hemmed in by other similarly scaled houses. ‘Usually, when I walk around my neighbourhood, I see a very repetitive cityscape,’ says Ono, ‘However, when I squint, there are moments that touch my heart, such as trees planted in gardens, the weeds growing on the roadside, sunlight filtering through leaves or the sky seen from between buildings.’
The Scoop Landscape House has been shaped to make the most of these fleeting moments.
The Tokyo-based studio created a floorplan with a valley-like curve at its heart, top-lit with a strip of glazing and containing a staircase linking the three levels. This device also serves to connect the site with the road and an adjoining path, ‘scooping up trivial scenery’ in order to bring these prosaic urban spaces into the everyday life of the house.
The curved walls are painted silver to better reflect the light, colour and movement that happens around the house, with an open tread metal staircase connecting the floors.
‘When the wind blows, the leaves of the plant move gently, and the raindrops left on the top light cast shimmering shadows after the rain,’ says Ono, ‘By scooping up these various movements, new scenery is created in the valley space.’
Wallpaper* Newsletter + Free Download
For a free digital copy of August Wallpaper*, celebrating Creative America, sign up today to receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories
The rest of the house is meticulously planned so that the living spaces are open to the valley and therefore soak up the movement and light that it creates. Internal windows are set into the silver-painted curved wall.
On the uppermost floor is a master bedroom and study area, alongside a family bathroom that blends into the lightwell. Below this is the main living space, with a kitchen and seating area, additional storage and a small semi-circular metal balcony that terminates the curve of the internal valley. The ground floor provides another bedroom, along with storage and a small external patio. A carport slots in beneath the first floor.
In a dynamic urban setting where change and renewal are a constant presence, The Scoop Landscape House opens itself up to give its occupants a more dynamic and engaging relationship with their surroundings.
INFORMATION
Jonathan Bell has written for Wallpaper* magazine since 1999, covering everything from architecture and transport design to books, tech and graphic design. He is now the magazine’s Transport and Technology Editor. Jonathan has written and edited 15 books, including Concept Car Design, 21st Century House, and The New Modern House. He is also the host of Wallpaper’s first podcast.
-
‘Hedonistic and avant-garde’: Rabanne’s Julian Dossena on the legacy of the chainmail 1969 bag
Paco Rabanne’s 1969 chainmail handbag encapsulates the late designer’s futuristic, space-age style. Current creative director Julien Dossena tells Wallpaper* about the bag’s particular pleasures
By Jack Moss Published
-
Postcard from Paris: Olympic fever takes over the streets
On the eve of the opening ceremony of Paris 2024, our correspondent shares her views from the streets of the capital about how the event is impacting the urban landscape.
By Minako Norimatsu Published
-
The Mercury Prize nominees for 2024 have been revealed
Charli XCX, The Last Dinner Party and Beth Gibbons are amongst this year's nominees
By Charlotte Gunn Published
-
Pace Tokyo is a flowing Sou Fujimoto experience that ‘guides visitors through the space’
Art gallery Pace Tokyo, designed by Sou Fujimoto in a Studio Heatherwick development, opens in the Japanese capital
By Danielle Demetriou Published
-
How the Arc’teryx Tokyo Creation Centre is all about craft, openness and cross-pollination
Arc’teryx launches its Tokyo Creation Centre, a hub for craftsmanship designed by Torafu Architects, embodying the brand's ethos
By Daniel Scheffler Published
-
Remembering Alexandros Tombazis (1939-2024), and the Metabolist architecture of this 1970s eco-pioneer
Back in September 2010 (W*138), we explored the legacy and history of Greek architect Alexandros Tombazis, who this month celebrates his 80th birthday.
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
Sun-drenched Los Angeles houses: modernism to minimalism
From modernist residences to riveting renovations and new-build contemporary homes, we tour some of the finest Los Angeles houses under the Californian sun
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
Craft store Nakagawa Masashichi Shoten at Narita airport is an ode to travel
The Japanese homewear and craft store Nakagawa Masashichi Shoten wows with bright interior made of moveable ‘trunks’ by Tokyo-based studio 14sd designs
By Joanna Kawecki Published
-
Modernist architecture: inspiration from across the globe
Modernist architecture has had a tremendous influence on today’s built environment, making these midcentury marvels some of the most closely studied 20th-century buildings; here, we explore the genre by continent
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
Space Un celebrates contemporary African art, community and connection in Japan
Space Un, a new art venue by Edna Dumas, dedicated to contemporary African art, opens in Tokyo, Japan
By Nana Ama Owusu-Ansah Published
-
Monospinal is a Japanese gaming company’s HQ inspired by its product’s world
A Japanese design studio fulfils its quest to take Monospinal, the Tokyo HQ of a video game developer, to the next level
By Ellie Stathaki Published