Moriyama House by Ryue Nishizawa / SANAA

Nestled within the dense urban landscape of Tokyo, the Moriyama House, designed by Ryue Nishizawa of SANAA, stands as a seminal piece in contemporary Japanese architecture.

Completed in 2005, this innovative project eschews conventional notions of residential design, offering a nuanced and sophisticated response to the challenges of urban living.

The architectural language of Moriyama House is defined by its collection of minimalistic white volumes. These parallelograms vary in size and purpose, creating a dynamic and fragmented streetscape. The house’s layout, set on a rectangular plot, is marked by a non-hierarchical arrangement of seven larger and three single-room structures. This deliberate randomness disrupts traditional spatial hierarchies, presenting a composition devoid of a central axis or symmetry. The slight alignment of certain volumes and their strategic recession from the plot's perimeter are the only apparent guiding principles. The resulting architectural expression mirrors the chaotic yet ordered nature of Tokyo itself.

The structure's elevations further this theme of disarray. The seemingly arbitrary extrusion of rectangular plans produces a landscape of parallelepipeds that visually resonate with the eclectic skyline of the surrounding city. Constructed using thin steel sheet panels, each volume stands apart in terms of size, proportion, and floor count, ranging from single-room units to multi-story apartments.

Currently, the owner occupies a four-story volume comprising a study, living area, and two bedrooms. The remaining structures serve as rental apartments, designed to be easily integrated into the owner’s residence in the future. These rented spaces exhibit a variety of configurations: one features three isolated volumes around a garden, each containing distinct functional spaces; another links a study and bathroom via a short path; others include multi-story units with well-defined but compact living spaces.

A defining aspect of the Moriyama House is its exploration of the boundary between public and private realms. The plot lacks any enclosing fences, allowing seamless public access. This openness is accentuated by small gardens and connecting paths, fostering a sense of community and interaction with the neighborhood. The strategic placement of windows ensures privacy while still exposing the interior life to the outside world, embodying Nishizawa’s vision of blurring the lines between house, garden, street, and city.

Through this project, Ryue Nishizawa pushes the boundaries of residential architecture, challenging preconceived notions of privacy and community. The Moriyama House is not merely a dwelling but a conceptual extension of the urban environment, creating an indistinguishable blend of landscape, city, and home. It exemplifies a harmonious coexistence between the intimate scale of living spaces and the expansive urban context, offering a profound commentary on the nature of contemporary urban living.

Photography: Office of Ryue Nishizawa
Text: @zaxarov

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