This Sloped-Roofed House Melts into the Surrounding Mountains

In Usuki, Japan, you’ll find a parallelepiped-shaped house inspired by the form of the surrounding mountain, blending into the rocky landscapes. Its architecture, which stands out among the more traditional houses around it, was designed to allow its inhabitants to get the most of the landscape while living as harmoniously with it as possible.

While Kyushu Island is best known for its stone Buddhas, it could equally become famous for its façade-less house, whose gently sloping roof at 24 degrees meets the ground directly. The low degree of this slope makes it possible to climb on the roof to sit there and admire the surroundings, with its soaring reliefs and sloping plains.

The 98-square-meter house, designed by architect Kenta Eto, was designed across two floors with the lower floor reserved for common areas and the main bedroom and the upper floor home to a games room and a children’s bedroom. Where the floor and the base of the roof meet, there is a small interior garden further blurring the boundaries between inside and outside.