House in Sonobe
Tato Architects
Kyoto, Japan
The firm Tato Architects, founded by Yo Shimada and based in Kobe, designed this two-floor house for a family in a mountainous area of Kyoto.

Tato Architects works from offices in the city of Kobe on projects throughout Japan. Its focus of interest lies in the research process behind each project, and in designing spaces that undergo renewal with the passage of time and the people that occupy them.

The floor plan and the volume of the house come from a simple straight grid and its diagonals, giving rise to the different spaces. But the idea of the project does not come from the grid. The region has a cool and wet climate, so terraces are commonly closed up, enabling residents to dry laundry or store things there. Drawing inspiration from these spaces which are inside or out, depending on the time of year, the architects designed the house’s characteristic feature: the large slidable hanging door that makes the sun room either part of the garden or part of the interior, giving the house a continuously changing facade. Similar areas of smaller dimensions were added in other areas of the house, all to serve as interfaces between indoors and out.

Image of 11 1 in House in Sonobe - Cosentino
© Shinkenchiku Sha 
Image of 2 3.1 in House in Sonobe - Cosentino
© Yohei Sasakura
Image of 2 3.2 in House in Sonobe - Cosentino
© Shinkenchiku Sha 
Image of 11 4 in House in Sonobe - Cosentino
© Shinkenchiku Sha 
Image of 8 5.1 in House in Sonobe - Cosentino
© Shinkenchiku Sha 
Image of 1 6.1 in House in Sonobe - Cosentino
© Yosuke Ohtake
Image of 2 6.2 in House in Sonobe - Cosentino
© Yosuke Ohtake
Image of 7 7 in House in Sonobe - Cosentino
© Yosuke Ohtake
Image of 3 8.1 in House in Sonobe - Cosentino
© Yosuke Ohtake
Image of 4 8.2 in House in Sonobe - Cosentino
© Yosuke Ohtake
Image of 7 9 in House in Sonobe - Cosentino
Image of 14 99 scaled in House in Sonobe - Cosentino
© Shinkenchiku Sha 

Professionals form

Do you need information or samples of any of our materials? Would you like to explore a Cosentino partnership?