The Tree-ness House in the Toshima area was conceived by Akihisa Hirata back in 2009: he received an order for an eight-story building with exhibition halls and living quarters from Taki Ishii after his solo exhibition in his gallery. The catastrophic earthquake of 2011 and other circumstances made adjustments to the project: in 2017, the construction of a five-story building with a total area of about 330 m2 was completed.
However, the main thing has remained unchanged: there is a series of landscaped terraces, which Hirata calls "folds." These chambered hanging gardens, as well as the free layout of the levels, are the architect's answer to neutral inside and outside box buildings, as well as to a complex, albeit typical Tokyo section: long, but with a very narrow street front.
On the ground floor there is an open area for parking a car, a gallery and its office, above - another hall, and further - living quarters. The supporting columns and beams are hidden in 250 mm thick concrete walls. The “fold” terraces are made of 9 mm thick sheet steel at the factory and then reinforced in place and concreted. They are filled with green roofing soil, lightweight and water-retaining. Thanks to this, as well as the thoughtful selection of plants, depending on the location of each "fold" (landscape designer Yuichi Tsukada was engaged in this), irrigation of these plantings is not required, there is enough rainwater.
