Shingle-clad home by Starpilots can be split up to make way for a road expansion
This Tokyo house and office for a funeral director has been split into three sections so that two can be removed later, in case a planned road gets built through the site (+ slideshow).
![Housecut by Starpilots Architect Office](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2015/09/Housecut_Starpilots-Architect-Office_dezeen_468_2.jpg)
Housecut was designed by Tokyo studio Starpilots for a couple in their 30s with two children, who had lived on the corner block and run their funeral business there for a long time.
![Housecut by Starpilots Architect Office](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2015/09/Housecut_Starpilots-Architect-Office_dezeen_468_1.jpg)
Now the city has designated two thirds of the site for a road expansion, so the architects designed a new two-storey house and office for the family with three separate volumes, two of which can be removed if the new road gets built.
![Housecut by Starpilots Architect Office](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2015/09/Housecut_Starpilots-Architect-Office_dezeen_468_27.jpg)
"The family said: 'We want to keep running our company in this place, even if we have to give up two thirds of the building. Even if we can only have a reception desk, we want to keep running our business here, as we have been doing'," said architect Takenori Miura.
![Housecut by Starpilots Architect Office](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2015/09/Housecut_Starpilots-Architect-Office_dezeen_468_5.jpg)
The ground floor is devoted to the funeral business, with a warehouse on one side, a coffee room and break room on the other side, and a reception desk and office in the middle.
The top floor houses the family's living quarters. The parent's bedroom is in one wing, and the children's bedroom and a traditional washitsu room – which can be used for dining or receiving guests – are located in the other. A grassy courtyard has also been added between these two rooms to provide outdoor space for eating and playing.
![Housecut by Starpilots Architect Office](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2015/09/Housecut_Starpilots-Architect-Office_dezeen_468_11.jpg)
The kitchen opens onto a double-height circulation space in the centre of the top floor, which is set back from the street to create room for a balcony at the front.
![Housecut by Starpilots Architect Office](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2015/09/Housecut_Starpilots-Architect-Office_dezeen_468_21.jpg)
Other Japanese homes on Dezeen that deal with difficult urban sites include a 1.8-metre-wide house slotted between two buildings in Tokyo, and a home with a windowless concrete facade, which had to be set four metres back from the street to make way for a proposed road expansion.
![Housecut by Starpilots Architect Office](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2015/09/Housecut_Starpilots-Architect-Office_dezeen_468_8.jpg)
In the warehouse on the ground floor, a miniature house-shaped structure built from oriented strand board (OSB) has been added for the toilet.
![Housecut by Starpilots Architect Office](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2015/09/Housecut_Starpilots-Architect-Office_dezeen_468_16.jpg)
On the top floor, the family's bathroom has been placed within the roof pitch at the front of the house. It features a sunken bath and opens onto a small decked courtyard, which has two rectangular voids cut into the roof to provide light and ventilation.
![Housecut by Starpilots Architect Office](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2015/09/Housecut_Starpilots-Architect-Office_dezeen_468_18.jpg)
Outside, the house has been clad with asphalt shingles in varying shades of green, giving the exterior an appearance similar to that of woven fabric.
![Housecut by Starpilots Architect Office](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2015/09/Housecut_Starpilots-Architect-Office_dezeen_468_3.jpg)
The 195-square-metre house has two entrances – one at the front for clients, and one at the back for the family. It was built with a timber frame and took six months to construct.
![Housecut by Starpilots Architect Office](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2015/09/Housecut_Starpilots-Architect-Office_dezeen_468_26.jpg)
Starpilots has completed a number of homes in Tokyo, including a shiny metal-clad house featured in a photo essay of the city's most interesting contemporary houses by French photographer Jérémie Souteyrat.
![Housecut by Starpilots Architect Office](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2015/09/Housecut_Starpilots-Architect-Office_dezeen_468_25.jpg)
Photography is by Satoshi Asakawa.
![Housecut by Starpilots Architect Office](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2015/09/Housecut_Starpilots-Architect-Office_dezeen_1.gif)
![Housecut by Starpilots Architect Office](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2015/09/Housecut_Starpilots-Architect-Office_dezeen_2.gif)
![Housecut by Starpilots Architect Office](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2015/09/Housecut_Starpilots-Architect-Office_dezeen_3.gif)
![Housecut by Starpilots Architect Office](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2015/09/Housecut_Starpilots-Architect-Office_dezeen_5.gif)