House 40 meters… long

Look at this amazing house of 40 meters long. What was the reason that the couple wanted to live in this narrow district, because of which they built this unusual house?? The inside of the house is as strange as it is from the outside.

Hiroki Ogawa is a designer and leather worker from Fukutsu, a city on the west coast of Japan. He and his wife Risa decided to return to their hometown to live and raise their child next to their grandparents.

The family built a new home on a lot the designer inherited from his grandparents. The site has a strange shape – it stretches 40 meters from north to south, with a rather steep rise of 1.2 meters.

When starting the project, the architect gave the owners a 21-page questionnaire. In addition to the usual questions about family composition, the questionnaire included more than 200 questions about everything from their favorite season, to lighting, nature sounds, and even questions about what customers particularly remember about their previous homes.

Since the neighboring house (on the east side of the site) was too close to the building’s windows, an additional rounded wall was included in the design. This blocked the line of sight between the interiors of the two houses. The resulting courtyard is thus cut off from the view of the road, providing greater privacy.

“ I think our living and dining rooms are very beautiful, ” says Risa. “ I like to spend my free time there, watching movies on the projector next to the kitchen . ”

In the original plan, the staircase was straight, but the architect ended up choosing a spiral model to increase the living space. To fit the curvature of the building, the plywood covering the floor is cut into trapezoids and carefully fitted together.

The master bedroom and children’s room are located on the second floor through the corridor leading from the atrium. “ I originally wanted a one-story house, and although the building is technically two levels, it still feels like the space is one , ” says Risa.　

The workshop where Hiroki creates his bags and accessories for his affordance brand is located in a separate building connected to the main house by an arch.

At the back of the workshop there is leather processing equipment and a massive workbench. “ It’s nice that the arch has windows on both sides, so I know my family is nearby while I’m working in the studio , ” says Hiroki.

The workshop is open to the public as a showroom, with handmade bags and leather accessories displayed on the shelves inside.

The flow of visitors to the workshop never stops, not least thanks to the unusual architecture of the house.