Projects by Hiroshi Nakamura & NAP Architects

Though still only 36 years old, Tokyo-based Hiroshi Nakamura already has an impressive line-up of projects under his belt. High-profile commissions include the Lanvin Boutique (2007) in Ginza, Tokyo, which features an exterior artfully punched with holes (conceived in collaboration with a boatbuilder) that create a kaleidoscopic effect during the day and emit a starry glow at night. While for a new interior for Shibuya Publishing (2008), Nakamura combined a bookshop and the publishing department into a single narrow space. 

Nakamura is probably best known for a style of domestic architecture characterised by a particular sensitivity to nature. The design of Dancing Trees, Singing Birds (2007), a house built in the Ebisu neighbourhood of Tokyo, was entirely informed by the trees already on the site. And the Necklace House (2006), located in the Japanese countryside, is raised several feet off the ground to take into account winters that can see up to 6ft of snow.

Nakamura was selected by Kengo Kuma as one of the best emerging architects for Phaidon's latest overview of contemporary world architecture, 10 x 10/3.