Articles by Miwa Negoro

Havenwood House began with a family gift: a block of land in a quiet Brighton cul-de-sac. What followed tested the project at every turn—planning disputes, a drawn-out VCAT process, the collapse of the original builder, and ultimately a complete rethink of the design. From these challenges emerged a light-filled home that reconsiders the suburban backyard, placing nature, community, and long-term living at the forefront of everyday life.

Havenwood House began with a family gift: a block of land in a quiet Brighton cul-de-sac. What followed tested the project at every turn—planning disputes, a drawn-out VCAT process, the collapse of the original builder, and ultimately a complete rethink of the design. From these challenges emerged a light-filled home that reconsiders the suburban backyard, placing nature, community, and long-term living at the forefront of everyday life.

Over 840,000 people live in the ger districts of Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, sprawling districts of gers (traditional felt tents) and self-built houses. Most households use an average of 4.1 tons of coal or coke briquettes for heating each winter as temperatures drop below -30°C. There is no sewage or sanitation infrastructure: 95% of residents use pit latrines, 1% have access to piped water, and air pollution is extremely debilitating to health.

Set amidst vast farmlands in Bagalur, Tamil Nadu, India, The Matchbox House is a quiet yet powerful statement on environmentally responsible architecture. Conceived as a net-positive home for a family of four, the residence blends rigorous sustainability with a rich and poetic spatial experience, proving that ecological need not compromise beauty or comfort.

Shell House is a residential project that reimagines the traditional courtyard home through the language of softness, light, and spatial layering. Located on a corner plot in Kuwait, the design draws inspiration from the organic morphology of a shell—protective on the outside, open and nurturing on the inside. At its heart lies a lush, intimate courtyard with a pool, visible from the home’s primary living spaces and home gym, establishing the courtyard as both a literal and conceptual anchor. The architecture wraps gently around this core, with a series of soft curves that define the building’s form and guide the spatial experience throughout.

With breathtaking views of Pawna Lake and the Tikona and Tung forts, this house is designed to perform as backdrop architecture to the landscape, an arrangement of four compact structures that open up to – and showcase – the outdoors. The placement of the house on the site, right after the crest of the hill, under a landmark fig tree, ensures that the landscape comes first, the architecture second. The house reveals itself as a surprise, half hidden behind the trees, and yet captures the views, opening up towards the lake, where the house reveals its full height.

This is the third location of the coffee brand BERTH COFFEE, planned and operated by Backpackers’ Japan, known for establishments like Nui and CITAN. The new café is located in Yokohama’s Minatomirai area, just a three-minute walk from Minatomirai Station, occupying approximately 75 square meters within a high-rise complex. Adjacent to it is a shared terrace within the building. We were fortunate to have the opportunity to design both the café and the shared terrace as a unified space.

Throughout eight months of design and on-site work, we realized that what truly matters is not the completeness of drawings, but the intuition shaped by being present. Around 70% of the layout was defined early on, while the remaining 30% was deliberately left without a set function—allowing light, behaviors, and moods to participate in forming the space.

Throughout eight months of design and on-site work, we realized that what truly matters is not the completeness of drawings, but the intuition shaped by being present. Around 70% of the layout was defined early on, while the remaining 30% was deliberately left without a set function—allowing light, behaviors, and moods to participate in forming the space.