Toy Block Houses

A long-term project consisting of ten residential "Toy Block Houses."

While exploring ways to move beyond the strict standards of modernism, architect Aida Takefumi turned his attention to the idea of playfulness. This concept became central to rethinking how children’s culture and its visual language could influence architectural design. He based his work on simple geometric shapes—cubes, cylinders, and rectangular prisms—and used them in various scales and proportions. The resulting buildings resemble giant toy constructions. One could say that this "language of blocks" references the archetypal building units that form the very essence of architecture.

The first buildings (shown in the last photo) were designed according to the basic principles of this approach, meaning that the scale of the blocks matched the main parts of the building. Over time, the method became more complex: the size of the blocks and the level of detailing evolved, but the overall sense of freedom and playfulness remained unchanged.

The very first house was built in 1979. More than fifty years have passed since then, yet residents continue to enjoy living in it in its original state.

Name: Toy Block Houses / 積木の家
City: Tokyo; Hofu (Yamaguchi Prefecture); Kawasaki (Kanagawa Prefecture)
Address: n/a
Architect: Aida Takefumi
Year: 1979−1984

(c)2025 Japan Arch / All Rights Reserved