Row House in Sumiyoshi

Sumiyoshi-ku, Japan

Exterior only

Visible from the street; the inside is private.

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ReferencearchINFORM↗

Located in Sumiyoshi-ku, Osaka, this brutalist residence was designed by Tadao Ando in his early career and demonstrates his distinctive use of béton brut. The single-family home, also known as Azuma House, was conceived without exterior windows at the owner's request to create a sense of detachment from Japan; to mitigate the resulting darkness, Ando introduced an interior courtyard with a cross walkway that floods the interior with natural light. The stark concrete aesthetic of the design proved influential enough to inspire the set design for Jamiroquai's music video "Virtual Insanity."