Nendo builds a house with a giant central staircase running through it

A small white box with a gigantic theatrical staircase that runs diagonally through the large glass façade and up to the roof. Located in Tokyo, nestled among the small condominiums of the neighborhood that houses it, the Stairway House is designed by the famous Japanese studio Nendo. and, like all his projects, it has the directness of a children's sketch and all the complexity that hides in simple things. Whether it's a table clock, an installation for Daikin or a new bag for Longchamp, Oki Sato's studio always manages to find an unprecedented perspective to interpret reality under the banner of expressive minimalism. Hyper-simplified in its layout and rigorous in its black and white interiors, this two-family house becomes unique because it intensifies the central element that inevitably suggests the most iconic of staircases, that of Villa Malaparte in Capri, and at the same time recalls the notes from Stairway to Heaven by Led Zeppelin.

"Their bedrooms - they explain from the study - were arranged on the first floor in consideration of the potential difficulties of going up and down the stairs, to allow the cats (up to eight) that live with them to move freely inside and outside and give mother the opportunity to pursue her gardening hobby." More than just a dividing element, the staircase thus becomes a meeting point between the two families, as well as enclosing functional elements such as the bathrooms and another connecting staircase between the various bedrooms. "The staircase not only connects the interior to the courtyard or one house to another, this structure aims to expand even further to unite the surroundings and the city, connecting the road that extends to the south at ground level and to the exterior at the top. which looks like a kind of greenhouse." Essential and minimal, the interior spaces are designed to be filled with plants. And greenery is also the protagonist in the outdoor patio, designed in this way to preserve the persimmon tree present. Source:Living Corriere