An airy indoor-outdoor home built around plants

The boundaries between indoors and outdoors are blurred at this house in Japan’s Aichi prefecture. Dubbed the House on the Hedge, the asymmetrical home is the work of Japanese architecture firm Studio Velocity, who had to design around an irregularly shaped site and some stubborn hedges.

Instead of ripping out the hedges, the studio let the plants inform the design, which resulted in a single-story house that cuts some intriguing angles. The hedges provide built-in privacy, which allowed the design to embrace floor-to-ceiling windows.

The airy space centers around the living, dining, and music rooms—from there, private areas like the bedrooms branch out, creating a scattered layout. With exposed pale timber framing throughout and windows and doors opening up to an array of patios, the residence takes on an alluring, if slightly dizzying, labyrinth effect.

Studio Velocity

Studio Velocity

Studio Velocity

Studio Velocity