Completed by the end of this month, APOLLO Architects have designed their newest building in Kitayama-cho, Fuchu, Tokyo called Ring. The location is in the quiet outskirts of Tokyo, and the clients are a husband and wife who work as teachers in a nearby private school.
The front of the building features a monolithic structure with a thin slit that serves as a first floor window looking into the children’s room and master bedroom. As visitors approach the floating stairs from the first floor, they will be greeted by a covered balcony that looks almost like a courtyard on the second floor.
I love the layout of this building, especially when you are expecting a wall to be covered on the left side of the stairs leading to the second floor, it instead becomes an surprisingly expansive and open space. The staircase almost serves as a barrier to separate the kitchen from the living room.
Photography by Akira Nishikawa.