Japanese houses today have to contend with unique factors that condition their design, from tiny lots in crowded urban contexts to ever-present seismic threats. But their formal innovation and attention to materials, technology, and measures to coax in light and air while maintaining domestic privacy make them cutting-edge residences that suggest new ways of being at home. In these 50 residences in the most dense urban milieu Japan's 127 million people live in an area slightly smaller than California architects explore alternating ideas of stability and ephemerality in various ways, resulting in spaces that are as fascinating as they are idiosyncratic. It is no surprise that Japan is where this progressive residential design activity is concentrated today. If international awards such as the coveted Pritzker Prize are any indication, contemporary Japanese architecture has emerged as a substantial force on the international scene ever since Kenzo Tange won it in 1987. Since then, Japanese winners of the Pritzker are Fumihiko Maki (1993), Tadao Ando (1995), Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa SANAA (2010), Toyo Ito (2013) and Shigeru Ban (2014) most of whom are still actively building houses. Though each of these architects has worked with Japanese tradition in different ways, sometimes even denying its significance, it is clear that the particular conditions of contemporary Japanese architecture are nourished by a rich tradition that seems to have many similarities with the simplicityo of modern architecture in general.
