Kazuyo Sejima – House in Plum Grove

On a plot in a residential zone, a white cube made of steel plates stands between plum trees, home to a young couple, their two children, grandma, and cat. 

In the course of designing this house, the architect found that her clients were kindred spirits, who envisioned a neutral house, like a blank canvas with nothing to distract their attention. 

Rather than designing conventional rooms and selecting suitable furniture for them, Sejima reduced every area of the house to a single piece of furniture or function. Instead of having a separate children’s room there would be a “sofa-room” or a “bed-room”. The final design included 17 different “rooms” none of which are completely closed, as there are openings in all of the dividing walls and the outdoors can be seen from one room through the window of another. The family members can do activities in common or alone, while still remaining in the same transparent space without boundaries.