Yushima House, Opening up to the World

In the heart of Tokyo lies Yushima House, a tall, rectangular-shaped building pierced with multiple windows in numerous places, with several terraces found on the different floors, and external staircases winding around the outside. The house has one special feature: it was designed by the firm OSTR as a collective dwelling, to be inhabited by two families and where private spaces and shared living areas come together.

‘We wanted to create a house where the wind, light, and scenery get inside and that feels good to live in’, explain Ryosuke Takei and Sho Ohta, the two architects in charge of the project. To achieve this, the building has numerous openings onto the outside: windows of various sizes, open terraces, intended to act as shared areas, and balconies. 

Designing ‘useless places’

The inside space offers a clever combination of rough concrete and white surfaces, with various wooden items of furniture. The architects also designed what they describe as ‘useless places’: rooms with no predestined function, shared by the two families and that each inhabitant can use as they see fit. Lastly, the pair also designed the stairs, both inside and outside, to act as areas that can be shifted from their primary use. Thus, the large steps can serve as a space to chat, work, or watch what is going on on the street below.

Yushima House encourages people to forge closer relationships with others, by inviting strangers to live under the same roof and combine certain living spaces, but also with the outside world: the urban environment and nature. 

Yushima House (2016), a project by the firm OSTR, can be viewed on their website.