Nishiogi comichi terrace / 成瀬・猪熊建築設計事務所

Row Houses and a Garden Path within a Residential Neighborhood.

This cluster of row houses is located about ten minutes on foot from Nishi-Ogikubo Station in a quiet residential area of Suginami, Tokyo, within a neighborhood of detached homes.
While Nishi-Ogikubo is often associated with its lively backstreets, bars, and independent shops, a short walk away reveals a calmer landscape of narrow lanes, flourishing gardens, and a dense yet humane living environment.
The project was designed to accommodate a total floor area of approximately 1,600 square meters. Rather than imposing a large mass, we sought to form conditions that resonate with the district’s original grain.
Twenty-three row houses are connected as one continuous building, yet a narrow path runs east–west through the site, creating permeability and a quiet sense of shared ground.
On the first floor, the living-dining areas were carefully designed to mediate between interior life and the garden path that runs through the site, using layers of planting, mounds, and eaves to maintain a gentle balance between connection and privacy.
The path serves multiple roles: a circulation route for residents, a casual meeting place, and a playground for children. It enables everyday interactions to occur naturally, allowing neighbors to sense one another’s presence without intrusion, reinstating a scale of living long embedded in the fabric of this neighborhood.
(Yuri Naruse, Jun Inokuma)

Location: Suginami-ku, Tokyo, Japan
Principal use: Housing complex
Client: MEITETSU CITY DESIGN
Completion: 2025

Architects: NARUSE・INOKUMA ARCHITECTS
Design team: Yuri Naruse, Jun Inokuma, Taiki Hayata, Mihoshi Ikawa, Shione Yamada
Structural design: Ohno JAPAN
Facility design (Electrical): Kankyo Engineering
Facility design (Mechanical): Lapin architectural equipment workshop
Landscape design and Construction: GREEN WISE
Construction: Koshin Construction

Photographs: Masao Nishikawa

Construction type: New building
Main structure: RC
Building scale: 2 stories
Site area: 1,885.01m²
Building area: 929.86m²
Total floor area: 1,640.29m²
Design term: 2023.07-2024.04
Construction term: 2024.05-2025.04