- 2017-
- Nagano
- Miyota
At the foot of Mount Asama in Miyota, Nagano Prefecture, five families, including my own, came together to purchase a vast, untouched expanse of land covered with Japanese red pines. From this, a plan emerged to build a house for each family, and we were invited to take part as architects.
These weren’t to be flats or co-housing units, but legally defined as five independent houses. The shared land was divided into plots, with each family owning their section.
On planning five houses at once.
Having a single designer dictate and control every decision didn’t feel right for this project. At the same time, letting each family build entirely on their own seemed like a missed opportunity. We wanted each home to reflect the unique values and lifestyles of its family, but we didn’t want the site to feel like a housing exhibition, with a random collection of unrelated show homes. Instead, we envisioned the homes as a cohesive cluster. Achieving this delicate balance meant having numerous discussions about which elements should be standardised and where flexibility could be allowed.
We first decided that, before any heavy machinery was brought in, we would carry out some preliminary thinning ourselves, set up tents, and camp on-site before any infrastructure was put in place. As for the overall plan, we took our time deciding how to arrange the houses on the site. You couldn’t ask for a more luxurious way to begin a project. Fully immersing ourselves in the environment—observing the naturally growing plants, the flow of water, the appearance of Mount Asama, the way sunlight enters, and the prevailing winds—we chose to treat the centre of the site as a large garden, with the houses arranged around it. In the shared garden, we plan to include playground equipment, a dining table, a sauna, and more. Over time, additional functions will likely be added through collective effort.
In most aspects of the building – the layout, landscaping, energy management, and so on – everyone is making their own decisions. You can really see each person’s taste coming through, especially in the interiors. For example, in one of the houses, the interior is lined with cypress plywood, finished with a dusting of mica powder. When the sunset pours in through the west-facing windows, the room is bathed in a brilliant red, sparkling with light.
On the other hand, for the skeleton supporting each building, such as the columns and beams, we decided to standardise the approach to these structural elements. We also unified several exterior features, including the roof pitch, weatherproofing details, fittings, and cladding. This meant we could have a shared set of detailed drawings and specification sheets, which could be used across all the houses. That said, these exterior guidelines are not set in stone. It’s perfectly fine for anyone to add elements later, such as canopies or shelves, adapting the homes as they live in them.
In some ways, it reminds us of Ultraman’s family (a nationally famous alien superhero in Japan). Ultraman Taro has horns, Ultraman Seven has a lot of red skin, Ultraman Ace has curly sideburns, and Ultraman Zoffy has bumps on his suit. Yet, it’s immediately clear that they are all brothers, sharing the same DNA.
What’s here is a site, architecture, and a cluster of buildings, as a friend shared their impression.
A project shaped by an organic, collaborative process—neither defined by a rigid masterplan nor entirely spontaneous. The resulting landscape feels remarkably supple, confronting us with diversity, tension, and a palpable sense of reality.
Category: Cluster of Detached Houses
Architecture: DOMINO ARCHITECTS + MYTPJ
Structural Design: Tetsuya Emura
Construction: Shibadaira Kensetsu, Sanada Kensetsu, Aokiya
Photographs: Gottingham
