{"id":5227,"date":"2026-02-10T10:30:45","date_gmt":"2026-02-10T11:30:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.angesfinanciers.org\/?p=5227"},"modified":"2026-02-20T08:56:37","modified_gmt":"2026-02-20T08:56:37","slug":"denizen-works-designs-japanese-house-with-enigmatic-quality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.angesfinanciers.org\/index.php\/2026\/02\/10\/denizen-works-designs-japanese-house-with-enigmatic-quality\/","title":{"rendered":"Denizen Works designs Japanese house with “enigmatic quality”"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"House<\/div>\n

UK studio Denizen Works<\/a> has exclusively<\/a> revealed its first house<\/a> in Japan<\/a>, which features an almost entirely blank street-facing facade.<\/span><\/p>\n

Named House in Onomichi, the charred-timber-clad house was designed to take advantage of its coastal site in southwest Japan, which overlooks the sea and nearby islands.<\/p>\n

“The core concept for the project was to use the building to create a private sanctuary overlooking the sea and the Setonai islands beyond,” Denizen Works<\/a> founder Murray Kerr told Dezeen.<\/p>\n

\"House
Denizen Works has completed House in Onomichi<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

House in Onomichi was designed to create a sense of privacy for the clients, who moved back to Japan from London for a calmer life, and references the arrangement of traditional Japanese homes.<\/p>\n

A two-storey block contains the one-bedroom home, while a single-storey studio that extends from it was placed to partially enclose a small garden.<\/p>\n

The connected structures are both accessed from a covered entrance walkway and unified by vertical, burnt-timber Yakisugi cladding.<\/p>\n

\"House
The house has an almost entirely blank street-facing facade<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

“The house is split between two traditional forms, that of the Omoya \u2013 main house \u2013 and the Hanare \u2013 annexe \u2013 which in this case represents the split between work and home,” explained project lead Yuto Fujii.<\/p>\n

“It was designed to create privacy and enhance the sense of enclosure.”<\/p>\n

\"Planted
The house and studio partially enclose a small garden<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

To add to this sense of privacy and create an air of mystery, the home’s street-facing facade has no windows, broken only by the covered entrance.<\/p>\n

“Placing the entrance in an entirely blank facade gives the house an enigmatic quality, ensuring the private setting remains private to the owners of the house and those lucky enough to be invited over the threshold,” said Kerr.<\/p>\n

\"Detail
Many of the construction details were developed by\u00a0Takearchitects<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Within the house, the bedroom and bathroom are on the ground floor, while the entire upper level contains an open-plan kitchen and dining room.<\/p>\n

This space was designed to take advantage of the sea views, with windows arranged at different heights to ensure sightlines when sitting on the floor or using western seating.<\/p>\n

\"Living
The windows in the living space have different heights<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The building is Denizen Works’s first house in Japan and it was created in collaboration with Hiroshima-based Takearchitects, which took the lead on many of the construction details.<\/p>\n

It combines the studio’s own broad knowledge with traditional Japanese forms and craft.<\/p>\n

“One needs to be careful trying to reinterpret traditional forms, but the development of the idea stemmed from a desire to create a functional studio on the ground floor that forms an interpretation of the traditional doma,” said Kerr.<\/p>\n

“Beyond that, we played with the cross-pollination of our clients, fusing east and west habits with windows that respond to whether you might be sitting on the floor, on a sofa or at a table.”<\/p>\n