Small modern townhouse by MAMM Design

"odo" is a small modern townhouse with a cafe that was built on the plot only 38 sqm in Tokyo, so the architects had to pay attention to characteristic of the plot which dramatically changes with its vertical level.

Architect: MAMM Design
Location: Tokyo, Japan
Year: 2015
Photos: DAICI ANO

Project's description: The house has 3 floors, a basement and a roof terrace. On the north side of the plot, the house faces one of the most famous parks in Tokyo. The first floor, the café, is raised from ground level by 1.1 meter to be aligned with the park level to have pleasant atmosphere of the park and to provide visibility from the park. It is also advantage to make the basement floor with less excavation. On the second floor, a public lavatory and a transformer station come into sight. So the floor has fewer windows from outside but has two skylights.

At the top floor level, by building volume regulation, a volume of the south side house has setback. So the floor can have both north and south views. On the rooftop, you can feel as if you were at the tree top. As a result, the house consists of two parts. One is “horizontal tube” penetrating from park side to the other side. The part is open to the public. The other is the rest of the volume, just like an ants’ nest, which is, in contrast, totally private space living with skylights.

A couple, occupants of the house, had just a few requests. They want to have a café and to maximize the potential of the plot. Now they enjoy moving up and down between the two parts depending on their feeling etc. Rooms and functions are not one-to-one correspondence in the house.

> Light and colorful townhouse by KUBE Architecture
> Narrow house by FORM / Kouichi Kimura Architects