Lucky Drops

Abstract

A new land survey in a suburb of Tokyo revealed a long, thin piece of no man’s land in the shape of a trapezium, just 700 mm wide at one end and 3.2 m at the other, a total of a little under 60m². Placing a house on this curious remnant of land posed a challenge even for Japanese architects, who are used to dealing with small plots, especially in view of the regulation requiring a house to be positioned at least 500 mm from the boundary of the plot! The architects took on this chellenge and attempted to turn the peculiar characteristics of this plot to their advantage. In a setting domineted by the structures so typical of Japanese city suburbs, the result was a highly unusual family home.