Architecture Nestled in Nature Edit
Tokyo's 'Dancing Trees, Singing Birds'

Built on a partially wooded lot (rare as hen’s teeth in Tokyo), this six-unit apartment building named ‘Dancing Trees, Singing Birds’ was designed to eke out the max­imum square footage possible on the 8,288-square-foot site.

Rather than the trees and birds making way for the new building, the apartments were fitted in around the existing inhabitants. The six apartments are of different sizes, each with a kitchen/dining room, a living room, a bedroom, and a leisure space.

Nine ‘human bird nests’ peep out from the south facade, jutting between tree trunks and branches. Woven among them are six small birdhouses that the designer, Hiroshi Nakamura, hung to encourage the birds to remain on the site.