Belly House By Tomohiro Hata

I like the name Belly House. And the ‘belly’ theme actually works nicely here with Japanese architect Tomohiro Hata’s lovely house design in Kyoto, Japan, which also happens to include a three-story wooden house hidden inside it.

The house-within-a-house concept was put into motion by constructing the initial house exterior according to strict, local building codes. Afterward, a three-story wooden framework was built through the center to divide the space. Now we have a double-height living room and study in the spaces between the inner and outer walls. Hata sums it up: “we achieved to create the informal free space to live while climbing up and down in the formal package.” [via dezeen]