About Habitusliving

 

Habitus is a movement for living in design. We’re an intelligent community of original thinkers in constant search of native uniqueness in our region.

 

From our base in Australia, we strive to capture the best edit, curating the stories behind the stories for authentic and expressive living.

 

Habitusliving.com explores the best residential architecture and design in Australia and Asia Pacific.

 

Learn more

habitusliving.com

A Residence In Tokyo Found Inspiration In The Humble Tree

A Residence In Tokyo Found Inspiration In The Humble Tree

A Residence In Tokyo Found Inspiration In The Humble Tree

Tree-ness House by Akihisa Hirata Architecture Office in Tokyo is inspired by the simplicity and inter-connectedness of a tree, it’s bark, branches and leaves.

There’s something to be said for the humble simplicity of a tree. One of the first things we tend to draw (visually communicate) as children is ourselves or our family, outside in a park beside a tree, the sun probably shining down from the corner.

This affinity stays with us through life, the simplicity of a tree developing into the desire to be close to, apart of, and with in, nature in a much broader sense.

And yet, a simple tree isn’t really all that simple. So found Akihisa Hirata Architecture Office. Their recently completed Tree-ness House located in Toshima Ku, Tokyo – as the name suggests – draws inspiration from the organic structure.

Tree-ness House Akihisa Hirata cc Vincent Hecht concrete boxes

Tree-ness House Akihisa Hirata cc Vincent Hecht void

“One tree is organically integrated with a combination of parts having different characteristics, such as a trunk, a branch, and a leaf. As with tree, we tried to create organic architecture that could be formed by a hierarchical combination of different parts such as plants, pleats (openings) and concrete boxes,” says the team.

Concrete ‘boxes’ are stacked three-dimensionally and provide an intriguing exterior along the streetscape. Inside, they form the fundamental structure of complicated voids and spaces that don’t necessarily line up on traditional levels.

Tree-ness House Akihisa Hirata cc Vincent Hecht concrete exterior

The bedrooms are made to be calm environments inside the boxes, while the exteriors become either terraces or gardens; the living and dining rooms are enclosed by glass walls offering a happy medium between indoors and out: the naturally occurring environment and the man-made.

Like a tree, Tree-ness house is strong and uniquely formed. The residence simultaneously provides shelter and connection to the world beyond its four figurative walls.

Akihisa Hirata Architecture Office
hao.nu

Photography by Vincent Hecht

Tree-ness House Akihisa Hirata cc Vincent Hecht driveway

Tree-ness House Akihisa Hirata cc Vincent Hecht dining room

Tree-ness House Akihisa Hirata cc Vincent Hecht interior view

Tree-ness House Akihisa Hirata cc Vincent Hecht study

Tree-ness House Akihisa Hirata cc Vincent Hecht library

Tree-ness House Akihisa Hirata cc Vincent Hecht bedroom

Tree-ness House Akihisa Hirata cc Vincent Hecht bathroom

Tree-ness House Akihisa Hirata cc Vincent Hecht atrium

Tree-ness House Akihisa Hirata cc Vincent Hecht atrium

Tree-ness House Akihisa Hirata cc Vincent Hecht streetscape

We think you might also like Medway Drive by Produce


Author:

Holly Cunneen was the editor of Habitus and has spent her time in the media writing about architecture, design and our local industry. With a firm view that “design has a shared responsibility to the individual as much as it does the wider community,” her personal and professional trajectory sees her chart the interests, accomplishments, and emerging patterns of behaviour within the architecture and design community.