the White U House

"The White U" was a building designed by Toyo Ito for his elder sister, whose husband had passed away. She wanted to move out of an apartment building and spend more time with her daughters, doing gardening. The home was designed for the privacy of his sister and her daughters and was meant to be a space of mourning and healing for her. A site was available next to Ito's own house.

Over the years, the three occupants moved out one by one. When the last daughter (the mother was the first to move out) left, the decision was made to demolish the house as it had served its purpose of being a place to mourn. Photographer Koji Taki had a series of photographs of the interior and published them in the book "Blurring Architecture".

Construction: 1976
Demolition: 1997

https://youtu.be/hk_zVp9jf1E