Why Japanese architects carve parking into tiny urban homes

At the corner of two narrow streets in Tokyo, an orange compact car slips beneath a white house that seems to have been cut around it. Atelier Tekuto’s Reflection of Mineral occupies an irregular 44.62-square-meter plot, where the client wanted as much living space as possible along with covered parking.

Three separate height restrictions pressed against the building from above, and the car claimed its space from below. Yasuhiro Yamashita and his team filled the available envelope and sliced into it until the house became a small polyhedron, with one deep cut at street level forming a sheltered pocket exactly where the vehicle needs to sit.

Stock photo for illustration only, not from the actual event

Stock photo for illustration only, not from the actual event