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Apollo: Arrow House

A slightly sloped staircase allows access to a single family house in Tokyo, where a series of diagonal elements create a "comfortable unease."

Japanese architecture firm Apollo Architects & Associates has recently completed the Soho house, a single family house in Shinagawa, Tokyo. The volume is used as both a private residence — in the first floor — and a photo studio — in the ground floor. Access to the house is made via a slightly sloped staircase, which adapts to the long and narrow site.

The dwelling is located in the back of a lot already occupied by another residence, and the staircase thus separates both volumes, adding to their contrast. The architects applied a glass façade on the ground floor, unifying inside and outside in the space harbouring the photo studio.

“The shallow sloped approach-stairs nicely match the sharp inclined wall,” states architect Satoshi Kurosaki, “and function as a novelty to invite visitors.” A pitched roof echoes the sloped staircase. Inside, a slit-shaped skylight allows daylight to invade all spaces, creating dramatic shadows. A series of diagonals permeate the space, in an effect that Kurosaki describes as a “comfortable unease”.

Apollo Architects & Associates: Arrow House
Architects: Apollo Architects & Associates / Satoshi Kurosaki
Location: Shinagawa, Tokyo
Completion: March 2013
Program: Residential
Structure: Steel Framing
Site area: 118.36 sqm
Building area: 46,43 square metres
Total Floor area: 84,22 square metres (Ground floor: 42,11 square metres, First floor: 42,11 square metres)
Structural engineer: Kenta Masaki
Mechanical engineer: Zenei Shimada
Photography: Masao Nishikawa

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Apollo: Arrow House

A slightly sloped staircase allows access to a single family house in Tokyo, where a series of diagonal elements create a "comfortable unease."

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