Hotakubo Complex: Riken Yamamoto’s First Social Housing

This year, the prestigious Pritzker Architecture Prize 2024 was awarded to Japanese architect Riken Yamamoto. With a practice spanning five decades, Yamamoto is known as an architect who can transform normal situations into extraordinary ones through his designs.

Hotakubo Housing by Riken Yamamoto (cr: Tomio Ohashi)

One of the early works of his career that is widely highlighted is the Hotakubo Housing in Kumamoto, Japan. Completed in 1991, the complex was Yamamoto's first social housing design. In starting the project, he tried to redefine the concept of communal living and continually questioned how to accommodate hundreds of different families so that they could form a community.

Five-story house building (cr: Riken Yamamoto)

According to Yamamoto, architecture is not about creating space but rather creating relationships. He was also inspired by traditional Japanese machiya housing and Greek oikos, which fostered collectivism among neighbors. Therefore, creating a community that respects each family's privacy was the priority.

The stairs at the outer side (cr: Tomio Ohashi)

A total of 16 housing clusters accommodate 110 housing units in one complex. Each cluster is arranged around a courtyard with grass and trees in the middle. This courtyard is designed as a communal space that can only be accessed from each cluster, thereby encouraging sub-community formation. By arranging this space, the yard becomes a safe, private space for its residents, fostering a sense of belonging.

Sixteen clusters arranged around a courtyard (cr: Shinkenchiku Sha)

Apart from the private and public issues in communal housing, the design is also limited by public housing regulations, which make the size of each unit relatively small. Yamamoto handled this creatively by utilizing the terrace as a transition space while expanding the living room towards the central courtyard. Terraces also create transparency and form a sense of togetherness between neighbors.

The terrace (cr: Tomio Ohashi)

Hutakubo Housing was Yamamoto's answer to the complex dynamics between community and privacy and was one of the pioneers in communal housing.