Tato Architects Combine Furniture and Architecture in one of their latest projects

photos by Koichi Torimura | click to enlarge

Located along a small, dead-end road in Itami City (Hyogo prefecture) is a 3-story home wrapped in corrugated metal. Like all Japanese homes, the architects were working within the constraints of extreme density and urban regulation.

Their proposal for House in Itami, which was completed just about 12 months ago, was an experimental home in which the furniture functions as architecture, and vice versa. “Elements such as stairs, a laundry space, closets, hand rails and toilets are made as if those are furniture,” explains Yo Shimada, of Tato Architects. Sure enough, a low coffee table and a dresser, both of which function as furniture, help make up the white metal staircase.

From the ground level where the bedroom is another staircase rises up through a large cupboard. Oh and the bathroom? It’s inside a closet. Literally.