Japanese architects Suppose Design Office have completed a residence in Nagoya, Japan, featuring a room dedicated to plants.
The house, situated on a narrow plot surrounded by neighbouring houses, accommodates the client’s desire for a vibrant garden by including a landscaped “garden room” bordering the main living space.
The architects aimed to treat the rooms and garden in the same way.
Objects associated with interiors, such as paintings, appear in the garden areas while rock and flowerbeds overlap into the living spaces.
The designers hope that the constantly changing internal gardens will continually alter the appearance of the home.
See our series of stories about Suppose Design Office:
House in Saijo
House in Jigozen
House in Sakuragawa
House in Kamakura
Here’s some text from Suppose:
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House in Nagoya
This Nagoya home features rooms designed for plants.
This home is built on a small, narrow plot surrounded by other houses, making the location less than ideal.
Responding to the client’s desire to have a vibrant garden we suggested a design featuring a room for plants, a “garden room” in other words.
Essentially, in this home the garden, which usually exists in the so-called exterior, is incorporated into the interior as landscaping to surround the tenant’s living space.
It was our intention to treat rooms and gardens as equivalent, and make the relationship between inside and out closer, by creating a design featuring this garden-like room so that things normally decorating a room such as art, books, and furnishings would in a way almost be thrust into an exterior space.
Rather than a design that begins to grow stale as soon as it is completed, through this design featuring the constantly changing and vibrant “garden room” we hope that the tenants daily lives will be richer than before.
Using this design as a starting point, we hope that words such as garden and landscape that had only been used for exteriors can begin to take on new and varied meanings, bringing vibrant and beautiful scenery into the interior of homes as well, and make architectural aesthetics more and more diverse.
July 15th, 2009 at 1:44 pm
mmmm…very beautiful and sensitive.
July 15th, 2009 at 2:18 pm
AMAZING !
July 15th, 2009 at 2:33 pm
Very interesting project – very clean execution of simple details.
Would not fancy going round to use their toilet…
July 15th, 2009 at 2:40 pm
The upper floor seems pretty stark, but the LOWER floor is absolutely stunning with its plants, rock garden and recessed lighting. I only hope there would be some provision for privacy if I never needed to go for a poo.
July 15th, 2009 at 2:41 pm
I cannot breaz…. zzz
July 15th, 2009 at 2:43 pm
looks freeeeeezing
July 15th, 2009 at 3:01 pm
Hoooly crap that’s amazing. I want to have a stone garden in the middle of my house so badly
July 15th, 2009 at 3:16 pm
Ah…Japanese… Reading a book on a beam…that should be a modern harikiri suicide or just filling the unused space?
July 15th, 2009 at 3:49 pm
How come you b*stards never have competitions to win one of these? I reckon you’re keeping them to yourselves.
Bah.
No really, I love it.
July 15th, 2009 at 3:57 pm
i love the idea of having to walk through a miniature forest and rock garden to take a crap..although the average forrest or rock offers more privacy..or them being japanese and all i would not be suprised if the glass door would become translucent (and not transparent) when locked..
July 15th, 2009 at 4:05 pm
But toilet next to the kitchen..? with open soundscape n wiew.. otherwise beautiful! maybe the access to the more intresting spots to hang around could be little bit less narrow… anyway i like the concept. if the surroundings won´t be counted.
July 15th, 2009 at 4:40 pm
Super nice, super wow, super amazing! Living the white dream!
July 15th, 2009 at 4:42 pm
I’m pretty sure they would show us an image of the glass in both states of opacity if that technology were used here. I’m nearly in love with the project but the bathroom, elegant though it may be, really is the height of absurdity. It’s one thing to play with notions of public and private in nuanced ways, it’s another thing to showcase the act of defecation next to a dining area.
July 15th, 2009 at 4:43 pm
i agree with basically all of the above…including the “pooping” concern.
like it a lot!.
July 15th, 2009 at 5:05 pm
Making the indoor/outdoor garden is a really nice idea, but why does everything else have to be so ’stark’ and ‘minimal.’ Obviously, bringing nature into the house is the central concept in this project, but nature is not stale and static, so why doesn’t the house respond to this? I guess it’s the trendy Japanese way of doing things, but it would be really nice to see this concept of inside/outside permeate the design of the rest of the house.
July 15th, 2009 at 5:13 pm
…but take a shut in that bathroom with your friends having dinner in the dinning room! my goooooood!… come ooooooooon! who are you people!? i woulndt even pi in that bath!
on the other hand… nice spaces and excecution!
July 15th, 2009 at 5:19 pm
Great job!!!! like white lotus in a mud pond!!!!!!!!!!
July 15th, 2009 at 5:49 pm
Outstanding. I love this. And I love the bathroom!!!!!
July 15th, 2009 at 5:53 pm
Great!!!
July 15th, 2009 at 6:10 pm
Maybe I’m just a prude, but would anyone out there feel comfortable on that toilet?
July 15th, 2009 at 6:34 pm
That *is* amazing. Of course the blurring of inside and outside is really interesting. Also I love the creative use of small spaces that would otherwise be wasted. What *is* up with the clear view into the bathroom from the kitchen, though? Is it supposed to be like that, or is there some trick that can obscure the view?
July 15th, 2009 at 7:31 pm
maybe am i retrograde or too conformist but i still dont understand the idea of having a wide view on the bathroom while eating in the kitchen…
it kind of makes me think of remote toilets in the backyard, decades ago…
otherwise, it’s a very pretty project
July 15th, 2009 at 7:32 pm
so pure………n simple.
July 15th, 2009 at 7:52 pm
amazzzzzzzing!
July 15th, 2009 at 8:36 pm
“This home is built on a small, narrow plot surrounded by other houses, making the location less than ideal.” AKA All of Japan
July 15th, 2009 at 8:56 pm
Bravo!!
Why not just s*+t in the kitchen sink? – could have cut some of the hardware costs.
T Sandwich-
July 15th, 2009 at 9:06 pm
at least the bathroom doors should be made from half-transparent glass…
otherwise i love it.. like most of the people here
July 15th, 2009 at 9:23 pm
@ T Sandwich:
Nice sarcasm, the house is clearly about issues of scatological voyeurism. I applaud these architects for being so daring as creating an architectural 2g1c. This is digital architecture at its finest. The 21st century arrives as last!!!
July 15th, 2009 at 9:30 pm
love the garden concept and another project with ingenious use of v little space.
July 15th, 2009 at 9:30 pm
Giant D….
If this is 21st century architecture your time machine’s yearometer is broken!
Dinosaurs eat rock gardens for lunch.
July 16th, 2009 at 3:22 am
hey dezeen! how about some plans? sections? the photos are lovely, but we architects like our good ol’ 2D drawings, and i suspect most others might find them useful as well in appreciating this kind and all kinds of architecture.
thanks though!
July 16th, 2009 at 3:22 am
Nice use of voids. I could clearly see a humanity environment within the house.
July 16th, 2009 at 6:43 am
There is a very narrow curtain track in the ceiling of the bathroom [eighth photograph from the bottom]. I suppose they chose to photograph the bathroom without the curtain.
July 16th, 2009 at 9:26 am
Great interior space with radiation of relationships between parts of spaces. Too bad that exterior is soo modest.
July 16th, 2009 at 10:05 am
the idea is wonderful.
first thoughts – many of the plants seem ‘trapped’ behind glass – also, i wonder if plants were considered for their level of oxygen and air cleaning qualities, or just what looked best?
Check out Kamal Meattle
http://www.ted.com/talks/kamal_meattle_on_how_to_grow_your_own_fresh_air.html
July 16th, 2009 at 10:06 am
i love it! it’s so pure and simple and beautiful! i’d love to habe a shower there and walk throuigh the house barefoot
July 16th, 2009 at 10:32 am
wonderful idea, mostly, white color is widely used again & again…
Nice planting to connect floors, like it.
July 16th, 2009 at 11:21 am
ok , the place is very relaxing and great
but what the hell! some places are freaking dangerous to just sit on and read a book in this house
July 16th, 2009 at 11:54 am
“garden in the room” thats really nice, about the toiletview from kitchen and back…ähm…I guess I agree with most of them above me….
July 16th, 2009 at 1:34 pm
If you have a look on the 12th and 21st images you will notice a curtain trail on the ceilings… The bathroom then, is protected by a simple curtain… no japanese high tech … just good japanese solutions for a narrow plot. Brilliant in all aspects
July 16th, 2009 at 2:57 pm
nice clean, grate home for one person, cant imagine whole family in this house
July 16th, 2009 at 3:14 pm
Nice concept, great minimalism yet why would ppl want to watch someone in the toilet while eating? …confusing
July 16th, 2009 at 4:19 pm
i guess there will be some curtains in the bathroom. don’t we see a rail?
July 16th, 2009 at 5:25 pm
Suppose Design Office inspires again. The front facade and entry is, to me, more spectacular than the inside spaces (awesome door – although I might have preferred to use a tall transom above an 8′ door) and the exterior photos explain the use of skylights and voids to daylight the interior on that site.
July 16th, 2009 at 7:17 pm
what if you fall asleep when you are reading on that narrow place
insanely unsafe
July 16th, 2009 at 11:21 pm
Conceptually nifty but good lord, I can’t imagine living in that space. It chills me just to imagine it.
July 17th, 2009 at 12:59 am
Cinematically illusoric…. eeh : )
July 17th, 2009 at 4:01 am
I have the same question with what wentao doubt,and you see ,the stones are so sharp for us.
July 17th, 2009 at 8:28 pm
typical … japanese… beauty
July 17th, 2009 at 8:29 pm
but i d like to see some plans too..
July 18th, 2009 at 7:38 am
The original thinking from Suzhou Gardens, China… I have been there.
July 18th, 2009 at 9:10 am
Look at the figs: the girls with books at the beam ???? lol
July 18th, 2009 at 10:36 am
love the long an narrow entrance..
July 18th, 2009 at 1:44 pm
wow~
very chic, minimal,,,and,,, a little bit nature~
July 18th, 2009 at 2:36 pm
stunning design and spaces, very relaxing
but i would not want to sit on a thin bar that is higher than the ground floor and read a book
i believe the plan is interesting as well , would like to see it
July 18th, 2009 at 3:01 pm
simply beautiful! but i agree… i would not be able to use a bathroom like that… i need some privacy when i take a poo! am i strange???? but anyway if the people who live there don’t care… then it’s simply amazing!!! an architectural poem
July 18th, 2009 at 3:30 pm
Perfect for people who just get home for sleep. And no kids there!
Minimal museum-like homes are great for magazines, but i’m not sure they can be that great for liiving in. Nobody can live with almost no furniture.
July 20th, 2009 at 12:51 am
Quite possibly the most beautiful house posted on Dezeen this year.
July 20th, 2009 at 3:23 pm
I absolutely love the entire design. I would love to live here.
July 21st, 2009 at 4:30 pm
there’s really no need for all those glass partitions, unless the garden is actually open ot the exterior at the roof (but doesn’t looks like it)
I think about 70% of modern japanase houses, have a totally open bathroom (this one atleast has glass, some don’t even have it!) and the remaining 30% have a clear opening to the exterior.
It’s a cultural thing I guess, but pretty weird, most of the houses are really “closed” to the exterior, really “private”, however, when it comes to bathrooms (the most private aspect of a house to me) it’s no holds barred!
July 22nd, 2009 at 11:51 am
actually!!
the most beautiful house posted on dezeen this year………..
some doubts…but much more giving….
SIMPLY BEAUTIFUL!
damn cool…..
July 23rd, 2009 at 2:12 am
absolutely fabulous. love the elegant space, esspecially the high contrast between the vegetation and the white. love to see a shot with a person on the pot. wheres the privacy?? perhaps the intention is that the vegetation will fill out and provide a screen… even still, a bit open. i love it reguardless though.
July 28th, 2009 at 6:29 am
May I track back to here -
http://rolu.terapad.com/index.cfm?fa=contentNews.newsDetails&newsID=107093&from=list
- for a little House in Nagoya2? [Now that I look closer, this post actually presents House in Nagoya2, too. Nomenclature Snomenclature.]
Saldivia, you might like House in Nagoya 01 better. Form and function, putting the blank walls to use – a home, art gallery, and flower shop:
http://cubeme.com/blog/2009/07/22/house-in-nagoya-01-by-suppose-design-office/
A really interesting way of dealing with residential v. commercial.
July 28th, 2009 at 11:34 am
rely simple but very good effect
July 28th, 2009 at 11:47 am
hmmmm…..what’s cooking? smells like….
July 28th, 2009 at 6:25 pm
BRILLIANT. I WOULD LIVE THERE.
July 28th, 2009 at 11:28 pm
Oh my God….It’s amazing….And stop that thing about the bathroom!! Come on people. Of course there are going to be curtains…And if not, it doesn’t matter. This house opens another point of view and that is what is important.
…And I love the entrance door too. It’s incredibly how it’s giving upon the trivial way of thinking.
July 29th, 2009 at 8:35 am
Looks much too cold for me … nothing to live in for longer time! Even a visit would be amazing …
July 30th, 2009 at 2:29 am
Very Nice the places, comfort and sublism.
I like me this perceptives of the arqchitect.
Congratulations,from México
July 30th, 2009 at 10:44 am
Love the space, but don’t like going to the bathroom through kitchen. The mix is…..
August 3rd, 2009 at 4:41 am
That reading area…….is…so…dangerous….
August 3rd, 2009 at 4:21 pm
Who could argue with the compelling simplicity, along with exciting innovations in use of space?
But….that bathroom…
I think all humans need more than just privacy IN the bathroom, we need discretion in slipping in and out of it too. Then…there’s the sound barrier.
There’s some unrealistic idealism here in this concept. I can see mods for it in the future…
August 6th, 2009 at 4:30 pm
Possibly the first house ever to hire a gardener for the interior maintenance.
September 30th, 2009 at 3:08 pm
amazing!!!
October 22nd, 2009 at 8:50 am
amazing, so clean…!!!! good touch. is this really a house for people live in? or this is just a model. because not yet furnished… i like every images. sky light designed well also…
anyway… good design… exccellent
October 22nd, 2009 at 11:13 am
does anyone what’s the name of the tree that is shown growing quite high in the central garden space of this place? absolutely loved it. I have a similar space in my own place. mediterrenean climate