The Charm of Living on the Streets
There is an irresistible charm to the narrow dead ends that suddenly emerge between maze-like elevated roads and buildings. For instance, many of us have likely felt the pull of small bars clustered at the end of a narrow alley, drawing us in as we wander through the city. The sense of anticipation that something unexpected might happen—blended with the aroma of food and the hazy atmosphere of smoke—is truly delightful. Each shop stands on its own, yet together they create a sense of cohesion that makes the whole alley feel like a single, shared space. Isn’t there a sense of belonging that arises from these seemingly trivial, everyday experiences—a feeling of being part of a living, breathing space?

Architecture Like a Road
This residence was designed for a couple and their child in Kitagata town, Gifu prefecture. The site is located just a few streets away from a busy trunk road, in an area where farmland is gradually being converted into residential lots. The client requested a home that would receive ample sunlight on a narrow site measuring 6.9 meters wide by 26 meters deep, flanked by single-family houses to the east and west.
When I first saw the site, I envisioned a slender structure that resembled a road. Attempting to fit a full set of conventional rooms into such a compact footprint would only result in each space feeling increasingly cramped. Instead, we created a linear, road-like building featuring a long, two-story atrium. By minimizing the separation between individual rooms, we aimed to evoke a sense of openness and continuity, making the most of the limited building volume.

The Richness of Choosing One's Own Place
To create a space that balances moments of pause and movement, the elongated building incorporates 1.8-meter-deep undulations along its length. These undulations, arranged on either side of a small central garden, allow ample sunlight and ventilation to reach even the innermost areas of the home.
The living room, kitchen, and dining area are set back into one of these recesses, forming a continuous space with a narrow waistline. On the second floor, the private rooms extend both inward and outward along the outer walls. Together with the visual layering created by the staircase and bridge elements that intersect the longitudinal space, the house takes on the character of a three-dimensional street nestled between buildings.
Looking down from the openings of private rooms or engaging in conversation on the bridge or in the study corner, one feels as though they are within a vertical slice of the city. The diagonal lines of sight created by this layered configuration generate a rich diversity of perceived distances within a limited footprint.
This spatial design shifts the character of the house according to one's sense of belonging—much like a Venn diagram representing overlapping relationships. Rather than enforcing physical distance, it fosters a rich experience of dwelling, defined by the freedom to choose where one feels most at home.