My work deals with the influence of demographic, economic and spatial phenomena in Tokyo, Japan, such as aging and population decline, and specifically vacant or abandoned houses (“Akiya” in Japanese).

Nowadays there are 820,000 vacant houses and apartments in Tokyo, for many different reasons: population decline, the difficulty of keeping real estate value over time, competition with new building projects, changing trends and fashions, and high inheritance taxes. More and more houses stay empty.

The act of getting inside the houses is what gives the project its meaning. The houses were probably used as a living space for a family. Entering a private place that no longer functions in its original use gives a feeling of trespassing.