Stairway House in Tokyo, Japan by Nendo

Stairway House in Tokyo by Japanese multidisciplinary design practice, nendo, is a multi-generational home that unapologetically pushes the boundaries of convention, manipulating seemingly ordinary building elements so that they take on an extraordinary status. Their architectural interventions bring joy to small, simple moments – they’re restrained yet thought-provoking designs both that are beautiful while challenging preconceived ideas we have about, well – pretty much everything.

From the outside, the house sits like a clean white spaceship in the quiet residential area it has landed in. It’s fiercely minimalist, seemingly impenetrable front façade contrasts to its rear, which extends its arm southward in direct conversation with the community and neighbouring road.

By night the box glows with beauty and simplicity only rivalled by the clean, regulated grid of an art gallery – seemingly untouched by the unflattering messiness of everyday life, especially one that involves children.

The home’s regular, rectangular grid is intercepted with a monumental angled concrete staircase, the mere sight of which would cause Australian building regulation bodies to shrink away in fear. The stair becomes the main organisational mechanism within the home, allowing the two families living together to maintain independence and privacy while avoiding complete separation of the two households. The grandparents and their eight cats roam around the ground floor, while the young couple and their child occupy the second and third floors.

The epic staircase directs all spatial relationships of the home creating small, unconventional moments where angles collide with straight exterior walls. A living organism that breathes life into the concrete and acts as connective tissue, the stair simultaneously deconstructs spaces while bringing them back together. The sculptural nature takes on many personalities, it’s body constantly morphing and conforming to the new role it serves as it snakes through the changing program. The step becomes a shelf, a boundary division, before holding a garden and forming a portal that connects interior and exterior space. The shapeshifter brings life to an otherwise quiet and too often neglected architectural element, manipulating its scale to such an extent it can no longer fade into the background.

The interiors are simple and devoid of clutter or decoration; a black island kitchen bench, a black desk and a pair of low armchairs are some of the few objects occupying the space. The house acts as a transparent fishbowl, proudly displaying its interiors openly to all those who become enthralled by its allure.

The otherwise reserved and minimalist, almost clinical material palette, consisting mostly of concrete, glass and timber, is broken up by a moment of lush greenery as large collections of plants weave a living carpet into the centre of the home. A lack of interior decoration is counterbalanced by the south-facing wall of glazing which extends the compact building site all the way to the back fence line, as the exterior is invited in. The soft whisper of the trees outside can almost be heard from the quiet armchair on the ground floor as there is a complete blurring of internal and external living spaces.