Umbrella House, Japanese residential architecture at Vitra Campus, Weil am Rhein, Germany.
The Umbrella House is a Japanese residential structure on the Vitra Campus with a pyramid roof elevated above a square platform measuring 7 by 7 meters. It is built from Japanese cypress and Oregon cedar, containing tatami rooms, a kitchen, and living spaces compressed into 55 square meters.
The structure was built in 1961 in Tokyo's Nerima district by architect Kazuo Shinohara and marked his first residential use of the umbrella roof form. When urban development threatened its survival in Japan, it was completely dismantled and transported to Germany to be rebuilt on the Vitra Campus.
The name comes from the distinctive roof that hovers like an open umbrella, sheltering the space below. The sliding doors and flexible layout show how Japanese living spaces blur the boundary between inside and outside.
Access is through the Vitra Campus grounds, where this structure is displayed as part of the architecture collection. Visitors should know that the rooms are quite compact, so the view from outside can be just as rewarding as stepping inside.
Katsuhiko Shiraishi partnered with Shinohara to create furniture designs specifically for these tiny rooms, showing how to maximize limited space. The prints by Setsu Asakura decorating the sliding doors were custom designed for this house.
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