Katsuhiko Endo Architect and Associates

This housing project is located five minutes away from JR Yamanote-line Meguro Station. The surrounding neighborhood is very relaxing including Kameki Tsuchiura House nearby. This residential complex consists of five properties and each unit is carefully designed to have spacious floor plans. The first floor has a dry area and two units, on the second floor there are also two units and the building owner’s property sit on the third and fourth floor. Each property can be reached by the stairs and elevator set in the common space. The entire housing opens up with windows and balconies this gives unique features to the building unlike those floor plans for housing units which all units are facing towards the same direction. Those rental units were designed to have 2.5-meter-high ceilings in the cross sectional dimension. To realize the four-story housing with this ceiling height in the low-rise residential zone, the first floor surface is set 1.4 meter below the ground level and the plenum space is designed as little as 400 millimeters height. Exposed concrete ceilings with reversed beams also used to make it feasible. Along with the reinforced concrete party walls, the common space’s core section is planned with reinforced concrete to strengthen the seismic elements. On the other hand, these steel columns in housing act only as a load-support and allowing each unit to have open views.