In a dense Tokyo neighborhood, House H designed by Sou Fujimoto Architects reimagines family living as a vertical tree, where voids, platforms, and sightlines create an open network of shared yet individual spaces.
Conceived as a vertical dwelling for a family of three, the house rejects the conventional logic of stacked floors in favor of a porous, tree-like structure. Its concrete volume is punctured with large, square openings that read less as windows than as spatial invitations, framing domestic life as something simultaneously private and shared, sheltered yet exposed.
The project’s guiding metaphor of a large tree is not illustrative but organizational. Like branches, each platform within the house offers a distinct condition for living: places to sit, sleep, eat, or simply pause. These platforms are separated enough to maintain individuality, yet constantly connected through sightlines, voids, and sound. Family members remain aware of one another’s presence, sensing movement and activity across levels without direct proximity.
This interconnection is intensified by the house’s radical use of apertures. Floors, walls, and ceilings are cut through and interlocked three-dimensionally, dissolving the hierarchy between vertical and horizontal space. Staircases attach themselves to these voids at varying angles, creating circulation that feels improvised rather than prescribed. Moving through the house is less about transitioning between rooms than navigating a continuous spatial field.
At times, the interior reads like an inhabitable drawing, recalling the spatial paradoxes of Escher or the speculative calm of a future ruin gently occupied. The stark whiteness of the interiors and the pale timber stairs heighten this effect, allowing light to flood deep into the section and flatten distinctions between structure and furniture, architecture and inhabitation.
By relying on artificial materials and strict geometry, House H paradoxically achieves an organic complexity. The succession of voids generates a dense network of relationships that extend beyond the family unit, blurring the boundary between interior life and the surrounding city. In this sense, the project by Sou Fujimoto Architects proposes not just a house, but a prototype for living vertically in Tokyo: a dwelling conceived as an ecosystem of relationships rather than a sealed container. As a built idea, House H remains quietly provocative, imagining domestic space as something grown, not stacked.
