Articles by Miwa Negoro

Living Continuum is a two-storey design studio and secondary residence located in Malabe, Sri Lanka, within a densely populated and rapidly urbanizing neighbourhood. Built on a compact site of approximately 7.5 perches, the project was envisioned as the architect’s own place of dwelling and practice, a space where mundane life and innovative work could exist together in continuity rather than deviation.

Situated on a 1,000 m² site in the suburbs of Tokyo, this single-family residence explores how domestic architecture can mediate between the contrasting spatial conditions of city and forest.

Every home carries a story, but Mriya begins with a dream — cherished, nurtured, and ultimately realized. The name itself, meaning “Dream,” reflects the essence of this residence: the fulfilment of a long-held aspiration to create a sanctuary deeply rooted in its land and life.

Set against the expanding urban edge of Hyderabad, Aurva Illam, a name bridging the Sanskrit Aurva (of the earth) and the Tamil Illam (home), is a residential prototype conceived as a “cascading earth” that unapologetically redefines modern luxury for the Anthropocene. Rejecting the ubiquitous glass-and-marble paradigm, the home proposes a new status symbol: bespoke materiality, thermal autonomy, and zero-air-conditioning living.

The home is primarily a study in lightness, expressed through its suspended structure, materiality, and relationship to its site. Designed for Nick Kent’s own family and design studio, the house consists of an open-plan living area and native garden on the ground floor, with the three bedrooms and studio space on the upper level elevated to make the most of northern sun, with a screened terrace facing the street. From the outset, there was a desire to test materials and structural systems to achieve a sensitive, adaptable response to the site’s microclimate.

Located between the sea and a national park in Ke Ga, Vietnam, KeGa Villa is conceived as a climate-responsive weekend retreat organized around a central garden, where shared living spaces form the heart of the project while the family’s privacy is carefully preserved.

The project occupies a two-level penthouse where both floors have independent access. By utilizing this dual-entry condition, the design reorganizes the vertical circulation, placing the primary entrance on the upper level and redefining the ritual of returning home while transforming storage into an architectural façade. The TV wall is raised and set back to create an expandable storage zone, where sneakers, skateboards, sports gear, and outdoor clothing are neatly organized. A red semi-circular volume accommodates large camping equipment and is positioned adjacent to the dust-off area, allowing the processes of leaving and returning home to flow seamlessly.

ATAMI taught us to seek the hidden potential within the historic and cultural fabric of a building, embrace it, and carry it forward into a new chapter of its life. The house presented itself as a traditional Japanese structure, with multiple rooms divided by shoji doors, low ceilings, and tatami floors.

This timber-framed house, designed as a second home for longstanding Sydney clients, complements their newly acquired vineyard at Main Ridge. Rooted in a 20-year relationship, the project is rich in personal connection and shared vision.