Photo/Illutration The left side of the living room has a piano and a TV set, while the right side is for dining. A sash separates the living room from the dining area. The Takahashi family can watch the television from the dining table through a glass door when it rains. (Photo taken by Nobufumi Takahashi)

Like many people designing a new home on a limited budget, Nobufumi Takahashi had to cut corners. He ended up with a "living room" exposed to the sky.

The eye-catching feature of the two-story Tokyo property is way too homely to be simply labeled a charming patio as it serves as a communal space for the family of five and is fitted out with a TV set, piano and all sorts of knickknacks. The right side of the room, furnished with a sofa, table, floor rug and chairs, is connected to the dining area.

An obvious question is what happens when it rains, snows or is simply too cold. A tarp attached to the top of the structure can be pulled over in such cases and at nighttime, which means the space can still be used.

The property in the capital's Suginami Ward near Zenpukuji Park, sits near the busy JR Chuo Line and is called Open Sky House. Its unusual layout has attracted considerable attention since it was completed in February 2019.

Takahashi, who is 46 and a manga artist who draws under the pseudonym of Zajiro while also employed by a general contractor, started out by purchasing a secondhand house and the land it sits on to lead the life he "had always dreamed about."

He then found out he could not take out a loan to pay for the cost of reforming the property because the house exceeded the floor-area ratio allowed under the law, rendering it a pre-existing non-conforming structure.

Takahashi had no choice but to demolish the building and build a new home, but his problems were far from over.

The site measures approximately 76 square meters. When that number is multiplied by the legal floor-area ratio of 80 percent, a house with a total floor space of around 60 square meters was all he was allowed to build. It seemed too small for the couple and their three children.

After much soul-searching, Takahashi decided the only solution was to “put part of the interior outside the house.” This is because roofless portions are not counted as floor area.

He then faced the problem of what to do if it rained while family members were eating or sleeping.

Determined not to give up, Takahashi drew a concept sketch of a house whose living room had no roof and showed it to his wife Minori, who is 44 and formerly worked as an interior designer.

She had always wanted to live in a house with an Italian-style patio and gave the thumbs-up to her husband's plan.

“I thought we could work it out,” she recalled.

At that point, Takahashi sought out Yoshitaka Suzuki, a friend since his college days, to design the house. The 46-year-old architect, who runs his own business, Yoshitaka Suzuki and Associates, said he repeated the calculations to maximize the space of the roofless living room while minimizing the entry of rain and wind. He also struggled to keep costs down because the structure required many external wall materials.

Takahashi's wife also worked on the interior design.

The living room was finished with concrete flooring, which is sloped slightly to drain water.

A tarp is spread over the living room, depending on the weather.

Initially, enough water to fill a bathtub pooled on the tarp after rain. This led to making use of metal fittings on yachts to cope with the problem and adding other improvements. This allowed the couple to spread the tarp and fold it back with ease.

The family can also spend time in the living room when the tarp is spread and the stove is on.

The children initially opposed to the idea of a roofless living room, fearing their gaming consoles would be ruined. But they now feel comfortable in there, according to Takahashi.

“Their friends are amazed when they come here. They say ‘Wow!’ and start playing tag,” he said.

Suzuki added: “Where you live is determined by how much you earn and what sort of loan you qualify for, not to mention real estate prices. The idea of a roofless room was intended to remove the framework of common sense and cause a stir in the current landscape.”

The project ended up costing 30 million yen ($277,600) excluding the land cost.

Related News