A “Nest in the Forest” for a Small Family

This very original house in Japan with seemingly random skylights is a compact 81 sqm, but looks much bigger because of its unusual layers of floors.

“Above the ground a floating wooden nest box composed of things like branches and fallen leaves cover the nest on the ground’s surface.”

UID Architects name their gentle dwelling for a mother and her two daughters, and their cat, the “nest house in the forest.”

The architects describe it as “spaces that are similar to the forest’s comfortable sunshine and shade” following the natural climate.

The mezzanine level contains a surprise.

The floor level morphs abruptly into a kitchen bench top in a partially sunken kitchen..

Below the central cutout in the floor is an entrance that fully incorporates nature, dirt, rocks, bugs and all, right into the center of the home.

As your gaze soars up, the vast expanse of plywood cladding gives the feeling of living in a forest glade inside a gigantic peeled open tree.

Startlingly original, the house has no glass in some of its skylights and windows.

Sliding doors can separate off bedrooms – a traditional Japanese concept – and also the kitchen bench from the walkway.

The ground floor literally burrows into the ground.

On the entry level partly below ground, the mothers bedroom looks out into the inner courtyard plants.

The underground entrance creates a space for bikes.

The daughters are of an age where falling through this unique tree-like dwelling is not a worry.

The open air pavilion design celebrates the very traditional Japanese sense of simply to experience nature as it is, even if that means being unprotected from the elements.

A welcome home that offers the bare minimum of shelter, with only the plywood between the family and their surroundings, “similar to creatures that generate their nest under elements that cover forest’s ground.”