A Compact, Steel-Clad Home Slots Into a Narrow Lot in Osaka, Japan

At first glance, it can be hard to spot the Toolbox House. Tucked away on a long, narrow lot in the downtown area of Osaka, Japan, the silvery home sits much lower than its high-rise neighbors. Yoshihiro Yamamoto of the local firm YYAA designed the dwelling for a couple and one of their mothers, who sought a single-story house that is "compact and easy to use, like a toolbox."

According to the architect, the clients previously lived and worked in a wooden building where they also ran a cosmetics company. While they initially sought to remodel this live/work space, "the patchwork building had many structural and insulation problems and was not a comfortable place to live in old age, so they decided to demolish it and build a new one."