Kitchen-Centred Living Anchors Agricultural Home on Itoshima Peninsula

Designed by Studio TAN, this kitchen-centred residence on Japan’s Itoshima Peninsula rethinks the relationship between domestic space, food production and daily life.

Rather than treating the kitchen as a secondary zone, the project places it at the core of the home, shaping both the architectural layout and the family’s everyday routines.

GALLERY

Created for a family of four, the house is positioned on a coastal site overlooking the Genkai Sea, with Mount Sefuri to the south, and is surrounded by a quiet residential area and forested landscape.

The kitchen replaces the conventional living room as the primary organising space. From here, the open plan flows seamlessly into a Japanese-style tatami room, a lofted library and an outdoor dining area, reinforcing the idea that cooking, eating and gathering are central to family life. The raised tatami platform allows clear sightlines across the home, enabling visual connection between spaces while supporting multiple activities at once. The kitchen’s placement encourages constant interaction, whether preparing meals, sharing food or engaging with family members across levels.

A generous dining table extends directly from the kitchen through a wide opening to the outdoors, blurring the boundary between interior and exterior dining. This gesture strengthens the connection between food preparation and the surrounding agricultural landscape, which includes cultivated fields, fruit trees and areas for poultry keeping. From the kitchen and dining zone, views extend across the site, reinforcing an awareness of seasonal change and food production as part of daily life.

Above, a loft library overlooks the double-height atrium adjacent to the kitchen. Enclosed by the sloping roof form, the loft offers a quieter retreat while maintaining a strong visual relationship with the spaces below. The roof itself plays a practical role, directing rainwater toward the orchard, fields and parking area, while shaping distinctive ceiling profiles over the kitchen, pantry and atrium.

The site planning further supports this kitchen-led lifestyle. Fields to the east capture morning sunlight, while fruit trees to the north benefit from airflow and afternoon light. With clear sightlines from the kitchen to both orchard and fields, the house operates as a working framework that integrates cooking, cultivation and family life into a cohesive whole.

Images by Yashiro Photo Office via Designboom