Power Unit Studio's "Y-House" - Japanese Modern Marvel in Concrete

I saw the greatest house today on HGTV's show World's Most Extreme Homes. It was yet another amazingly cool Japanese home, this time by the firm Power Unit Studio. It's called the "Y-House" and it is an absolute wonder in concrete.




The house is cantilevered over a sloping suburban lot in Nagoya. Multiple levels flow down through the house, invoking the falling elevation of the site. The owners are both designers, and work from home. Their roomy office hangs out over the main living space and looks down on it via a large window. Typical of Japanese modern homes, there's a sleek and functional kitchen tucked behind one wall. Sleeping spaces are small and simply appointed. I don't think there is a 90 degree angle in the whole place. The roof and porch space look like something out of a skate park. This is one urban (suburban, really) infill project that clearly doesn't mind clashing with the neighborhood!






I think the pics here, from the Power Unit Studio site, just don't quite do the house justice. Maybe because as depicted here it isn't really being lived in yet. On World's Most Extreme Homes (episode HWEXT-410), with the owners there and their belongings in the house, it actually looks extremely warm and comfortable. You can also see a some more pics in a .pdf file here that show it a lot better (click the first link in the Google search results that come up).

I continue to be entranced by Japanese modernist houses. They're soooo different from American homes, and for whatever reason, to me they just look much more livable and comfortable. I really can't put my finger on why that is, but I'm enjoying digging around and finding more of them. I like the Y-House a lot.

Image credits - Power Unit Studio site