A Family in Japan Makes the Most of a Tight Space on an Even Tighter Budget

After purchasing a plot of hilly land in a suburb near Yokohama, Japan, a couple and their young daughter were left with a strict budget to create their family’s new home. They approached architecture firm In Studio with the challenge of designing a low-cost residence that embraced the surrounds.

Inspired by the couple’s brief, In Studio cofounders Izumi Kozasa and Naoko Okumura designed a home "that is completely wrapped in the hillside and looks up to the sky," they say.

The site is part of a residential development that was neatly laid out along the undulating topography, which subjected all the homes there to stringent building regulations. The hilly terrain and accompanying restrictions have resulted in a neighborhood covered with small, detached houses that are characteristic of homes found in mountainous regions throughout Japan.