Doors

A large slider opens onto a small courtyard and the outdoors. The lounge chairs and ottoman are by Charles and Ray Eames for Herman Miller and the Rivet side table is from Frama.

“From the city to the house, there’s a big gap. You need to have a space to adjust to the feeling,” says Ashizawa. The long form of the entry corridor does just that, taking cues from Japanese temple architecture to create a moment of intimacy before the awe. “The house is lucky enough to have kind of a magical space.”

The light at the end of the tunnel-like entrance draws visitors to the oversized slab-style front door.

The door to the bathroom has a steel detail that recalls the exterior. "It's the only interior door in this little micro-building," says Shaw. "Therefore, we felt like it couldn't just be a door; it had to be, in a sense, like a piece of furniture."

A close-up of the wood walls. Acoustic felt is set between the slats, which improve acoustics and hide doors and storage space. Here, the door pull to the master bedroom is hidden in the wall, which retracts like an accordion.

Minimalist sliding doors separate the rooms.