A total of eight columns stretch up to the roof of the house, overlapping one another to support a spilt-level first floor containing two bedrooms and a traditional Japanese room, as well as three separate lofts overhead.

The living room, dining room and kitchen are all located on the ground floor and are loosely separated into different zones by the gridded layout of the columns.

"Although the whole house is just one space under big roof, it is divided loosely with Y-shaped frames and floorboards," said Hiroyuki Shinozaki.

"I hope that the family uses the structure of the house in their daily life," the architect added. "For example, people hanging pictures and figures from Y-shaped frames and marking the height of their child on it. And they will leave the trail of their life on the house like a well-thumbed book."

A wooden staircase leads up to the split-level first floor, while ladders connect each of these rooms with the lofts directly above.

Flooring and furniture throughout the house is also wooden, matching the timber columns.

The roof of the house runs parallel with the angled wooden braces, as do the windows on the gabled facade.

An L-shaped terrace is positioned at the back of the building and wraps around the rear of the dining area.

Hiroyuki Shinozaki has completed two other houses named after letters of the alphabet in the last year. House K features a skinny west wing, while House T has huge rectangular holes in the walls and floors.

See more architecture by Hiroyuki Shinozaki Architects, including a cafe filled with courtyard gardens.

See all our stories about houses in Japan »

Photography is by Fumihiko Ikemoto.

Here's some project details from the architect:

House H

Client: family
Location: Chiba, Japan
Site area: 161.82 sq m
Built area: 64.02 sq m (39.56%)
Gross floor area: 115.41 sq m (71.31%)

Completion date: Dec 2012
Structure: Wood Flame, 2 story
Maximum height: 7.96 m

Project Team: Hiroyuki Shinozaki, Sota Matsuura, Tatsumi Terado Structural Studio
Structure engineer: Tatsumi Terado Structural Studio
Contractor: Hirohashi Komuten Lo.,Ltd.

Above: site plan

Above: ground floor plan - click above for larger image

Above: first floor plan - click above for larger image

Above: long section - click above for larger image

Above: cross section one

Above: cross section two

Above: east elevation

Above: north elevation

Above: west elevation

Above: south elevation

The post House H by
Hiroyuki Shinozaki Architects appeared first on Dezeen.

The skinny west wing of this Tokyo house by Hiroyuki Shinozaki Architects is nine metres high, but less than two metres wide.

Long corridors on each floor of the three-storey house divide it into two uneven halves, which together contain enough rooms to accommodate two families.

The slender side of the house contains kitchens, bathrooms, closets and a small bedroom, while larger bedrooms and living rooms occupy the wider half.

Instead of doorways, there are large openings in the walls between rooms and corridors, so that the families can communicate with one another from different parts of the house.

This is the third project by Hiroyuki Shinozaki Architects that we've featured this month, following a house with holes in the floors and a cafe with courtyards biting through the walls.

See more Japanese houses on Dezeen »

Photography is by Kai Nakamura.

Here are a few lines of textfrom Hiroyuki Shinozaki:

House K

It is a duplex house in quiet residential area.

The space is not divided by those families but is consisted of living space and its supporting space for both families all together.

Those two different spaces are connected by corridor which gives an impression of outdoor space.

1.8m wide and 9m high wooden space by small beams and plywood necessarily make wall and floor for kitchen, bathroom and closet.

Ground floor plan - click above for larger image

On the other hand, living space such as living room, dining room and bedroom are roughly collected in a concrete box.

First floor plan - click above for larger image

On the slender site, two families live and interacted by coming and going along the long corridor.

Loft plan - click above for larger image

Client: two families
Location: Tokyo, Japan

Roof plan - click above for larger image

Site area: 165.13sqm
Built area: 161.47sqm(total)
Completion date: November 2011

Cross section

Structure: Reinforced concreate and wood flame, 2 story
Structure engineer: Tatsumi Terado Structural Studio
Contractor: Sinei,Ltd

Long section 1 - click above for larger image

Long section 2 - click above for larger image

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Glass screens allow views across the courtyards from each of the five dining areas that comprise the Tablehat cafe, some of which are only large enough to accommodate a single table.

A wooden roof sits like a series of boxes atop the single-storey building, with openings that let daylight through to the plants and flowers in the courtyards.

The cafe was constructed beside the client's house and a door leads into it from the side of the existing building.

Hiroyuki Shinozaki Architects more recently completed a controversial house with holes in the walls and floors.

See more projects in Japan »

Photography is by Kai Nakamura.

Here's a short description from Hiroyuki Shinozaki:

Tablehat

This small cafe is built in the peaceful residential street of Odawara city.

If it looks up, there are some on which the air of various sizes is likely to collect.

On the scale as shown in a table, they stood in a row superficially and have floated, under them, tables, chairs, plants, and the kitchen are placed.

The air as the exterior enclosed by the foundation of concrete and the air of various sizes which collects on it as an inside are making a border of inside and outside in the place with a height of 1.8 m.

How to make a border as air of suchinside and outside is tried.

Client: individual owner
Location: Kanagawa, Japan

Site area: 341.19sqm
Built Area: 49.51sqm
Completion date: September 2011

Plan – click above for larger image

Structure: Wood frame and reinforced concrete, 1 storey
Structure engineer: Tatsumi Terado Structural Studio

Section – click above for larger image

Producer: Uemura Design Studio
Lighting design: Izumi Okayasu Lighting Design
Contractor: Sensyu, Ltd

West elevation – click above for larger image

The post Tablehat by
Hiroyuki Shinozaki Architects appeared first on Dezeen.

Wooden ladders connect each of the four split-level storeys and a staircase with built-in storage leads up from the ground floor studio to the dining room and kitchen on the staggered floor above.

One ladder travels up from the dining room to the living room, which then steps down to the bedroom through the wide hole in the wall.

Another ladder connects the living room with the skeletal top level, where four holes in the floor give the room a cross-shaped layout.

A small study area is sunken into one of these holes and residents use the floor above it as a desk.