This Japanese House Garden Immerses You in the Beauty of Changing Seasons
Located in the west of Tokyo is a unique home with a garden to match. A piece of land was subdivided; on it sits two homes, one for the architect, the other for their sister-in-law, in which they share the open space as a communal family.
Hiroyuki Unemori, architect and Director of Unemori Architects, designed both of the homes to connect to the shared alleyway between them. This gives both families more access to light and ventilation and more useable outdoor space to play, chat and engage with each other.
"The client wanted a natural, seasonal garden that was not too much maintenance." explains Keisuke Suzuki, garden designer and Director of Soil Green 4. "Instead of planting areas with a lot of plants, the design is such that weeds and groundcovers placed at points will spread on their own and create a good atmosphere even if they are left to grow a little."
The outdoor area was divided into four areas, the alley, the terraces, the roadside and the space at the end of the site. Keisuke saw each space as an opportunity to provide different senses for each season.
"Regarding the alley, the planting spaces are alternating to create a sense of depth and to resemble naturally formed paths," Keisuke explains. "At the end of the alley, we added a beautiful flowering Vitex agnus-castus that blooms in the summer."
The terraces have been designed with evergreen plants in moveable pots to ensure greenery during winter, and the end of the shared alley is more tailored to the rich autumn colours.
"Regarding the roadside, more deciduous trees to give a sense of the season," explains Keisuke. "We have tried to make it pleasing to the eyes of the neighbours."
Soil Green 4 aimed to design a garden that felt like it wasn't designed at all, where the plants look natural as if they were originally there. However, Keisuke's real pride in this garden design is how Hiroyuki and his family have incorporated nature into their daily lives.
"It is a pleasure that the residents can feel the change of the seasons while watering the plants," explains Keisuke. "Which they could not feel before, and have a chance to spend a little time with themselves."
This Japanese garden was about embracing and celebrating seasonal changes.
"Since Japan has four distinct seasons, the daily gradual changes of the seasons are very beautiful. Many Japanese people feel the passage of time in this transition," Keisuke explains. "I believe that the Japanese garden is not a garden that is overly created by using plants for this purpose, but a garden in which time and love are spent on the plants along with nature."
Designed by soil green 4, architecture by Unemori Architects.
Japan trip supported by BowerBird.
Videography, photography and words by Anthony Richardson.
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