This is a triangular construction

Which has been visited by many people

Some famous architects have visited the house when they were students

My name is Rie Azuma

I've been an architect for more than 30 years

There are 6 Hoshinoya hotels in Japan and abroad designed by me

My father is architect Takamitsu Azuma

The Tower House is the first piece of work of my father

He was a bit over 30 years old

The house was built in 1966

In the first few years, my father's office was on the first floor of the building

He wanted to be able to walk to work

So living near his office became a reasonable choice

And he built the Tower House

The house was erected on a 20-square-meter plot of land

And the main area that can be used as rooms

Covers only 12 square meters

There are six levels, one underground and five above

The first floor is a garage

The second floor holds the living room, dining room and kitchen

My father would sit opposite to us

Mother and I would sit here

We'd move the chairs over and have meals here

Then put the chairs back

Into the living room

My mother used to cook here

She said that she could look outside while cooking here

The third floor is a void, a restroom and a bathroom

The fourth floor is the main bedroom

My parents slept here when we all lived here together

During weekend days there is light in the room

That's very nice

I read in bed a lot

This is a picture of my father

He left us three years ago at the age of 84

I used to have words with him all the time when I was a student

And we rarely communicated

But after we started working together

I'd learned a lot from him

The fifth floor is a child room and a balcony

It used to be my room when we first moved in

I would sit at my desk

And study while staring at the sky

There is no door in the Tower House

But it doesn't make life inconvenient

When my mother came up to hang clothes on the balcony

The sound of her going up the stairs

Would give me a notice

Or when I was studying

And there were guests, or my parents were watching TV downstairs

I would yell “Keep it down please” if they were too loud

And when dinner was ready, they would call me from downstairs too

All our memories about family is stored in the house

For me, the Tower House is part of our family

It's like a family member

What makes the Tower House stand out

Is that despite its limited site area

It feels spacious

There are some openings on the south side

Through these windows, you can see different scenes in different directions

And as you go up the stairs, you will be showered in continuous new views

You won't feel constrained at all

Although the house is right next to the streets

The walls sticking out

Is guarding the house

The avenue outside was completed the same time as the house

You can feel the seasons in the house

This also enriches the space

I moved in at 6

And everything you see in the house

Is the same as fifty years ago except the faucets

I hope that we can understand

That our perception of space does not equal to its actual physical size

As the sense of space is not directly convertible to numbers

So “how many square meters” shouldn't be the sole consideration

Besides, building a house is not all about money

To build a good living space you need to put in thought

How to spend your money is an important question to answer

When you live in a house for 50 years

You would understand that there are things you can change, like furniture and home appliances

But there are also things you can't change, like the basic structure of the house

If you have an interesting basic structure

You will have dozens of year of fun

My father once said that

When you live in a city, you won't need every function in your house

Because the city could compensate for it

If you don't have the space for a lot of books at home

You can go to the library nearby

If you have a small fridge

You can go to the grocery store everyday

You would have fresh ingredients all the time

Living in a city

Is living with changes and new experiences