
Japanese firm Mount Fuji Architects Studio have squeezed a narrow gate house between two existing Tokyo residences, leading to a main house on the L-shaped site behind.

The gate house (above) faces onto the road, separated from the main house at the back of the site (below) by a small courtyard.

Both parts of Narrow House are two-storey wood frame structures.

The gate house (above) has walls lined with bookshelves and a ladder connecting the two floors.

The main house has a bathroom and bedroom on the ground floor with the kitchen and living space on the first.

All photographs are by Shigeo Ogawa.

Here's some more from the architects:
Near House has two buildings in a site.

Both buildings are very small, therefore we find a big potential.

It is not as large as the houses and not as small as the furniture.

This project has "unique near distance".

Principal use:private residence

Site area:66.42m2

Building area:37.65m2

Total floor area:75.30m2
Click above for larger image
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Design:2008.9 - 2009.4 construction:2009.7 - 2010.2
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See also:
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| Tree House by Mount Fuji Architects Studio |
House in Hamadera by Coo Planning |
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AMAZING! clean and pure.
Made do with what they had and I thought they did quite well! I'd love to have shelving like that!
I'm going to have shelving like that. These lines and layout have inspired me as a designer on so many levels. Awesome.
this is amazing. i love the lines, the sharpness, and the simplicity of detail. i'm partial to small projects, and to me a project that still gives a sense of openess in a relatively confined floorplan is a success.
Works great as long as you don't own any objects larger than the shelf box. Shelf heights are too rigid for my likings.
Looks good until you bring all your personal stuff into it.