Highly commended in the Architecture Book Awards, 2024: the definitive overview of and ultimate resource on the iconic architect-designed houses built in Japan from 1945 to the present.

Imagine a terraced house whose courtyard separates the kitchen from the bedroom. Or a tiny, triangular tower of rooms stacked one above another. Quirky, experimental and utterly fascinating, the houses produced in Japan since the end of the Second World War are among the most exceptional in the world. The Japanese House Since 1945 is a cohesive chronology of the most compelling architect-designed Japanese homes, showing developments in form, material, architectural expression and family living over almost eight decades.

Unparallelled in their conceptual purity, many Japanese houses have become icons at home as well as abroad. Presented with clear prose and accompanied by compelling photographs and drawings, this book features 97 houses, divided among nine chapters and organized by decade. In addition to acquainting the reader with individual homes, the book illuminates the social, technological, geographic and historical factors behind these era-defining houses. Developments over the period are underscored by the visual presentation, as it evolves from monochrome to colour and from hand-drawn to digital. Decade lead-ins set the historical context for each chapter, while ‘Spotlight’ segments draw attention to the separate components of the Japanese house. ‘At Home’ sections, most written by architects and their family members, bring to life the experience of living in these unique houses.

'Fascinating… [Captures] beautiful images of some of the country’s most innovative homes, as well as architectural drawings, resident interviews, and descriptions of the circumstances surrounding their construction' - Dwell
'Excellent... Traces the evolution of single-family houses across eight decades, focusing as much on the people who live(d) in the houses than the architects who designed them... [Naomi Pollock's] most important and best book to date... Compelling and vivid' - A Weekly Dose of Architecture Books
'A superbly produced book that benefits from deep research into and knowledge of a single building type in [Japan] since World War II' - Architecture Book Awards

Naomi Pollock is an American architect, journalist and author. She has lived in Japan since the 1980s, reporting on architecture for international magazines. A special international correspondent for Architectural Record, she has written a number of books on Japanese houses and architects and is the author of Japanese Design Since 1945, also published by Thames & Hudson.