An eco-home with one serious staircase

A passive solar home in Japan boasts various energy-saving features and a sloping, stair-clad roof that doubles as hangout area/lounge for (hopefully well-behaved) neighborhood children.

Wed, Sep 08 2010 at 4:40 PM EST

Images: Y+M Design Offices

I’m going to go out on a limb and say that the average homeowner isn’t exactly keen on the idea of a bunch of kids tromping around (or scaling) up on the roof.

Well, this isn’t the case with the family of four residing in House of Stairs, a passive solar home designed so that neighborhood kids can use the dwelling’s roof as a hangout of sorts. As you can see from the photos, the beachside abode in Japan's Shimane Prefecture — designed by Y+M Design Office — sports a roof that’s basically a two-story staircase or what Core77 calls “one gigantic stoop.” Dubbing the home “The Last House I’d Ever Build in Brooklyn,” Core77 goes on to explain that “if you live in Brooklyn, the bane of your peaceful residential existence (or the source of your entertainment, depending on your disposition) is noisy teenagers hanging out on the stoop.”

As a passive solar home, House of Stairs boasts eco-friendly features such as radiant floor heating and windows and air vents positioned so that they capture natural sunlight/warmth and ventilation, respectively.

Once I got over the fact that the roof has the potential to be a noisy teen magnet and that the windows practically beg peeping toms to make themselves right at home (how in the world do the owners keep folks off of the roof when they're not wanted?), I'm actually digging the home's airy, open interiors, the meticulous passive solar design, and the community-building aspect ... although I personally wouldn't want the roof of my home to serve as seating for a community theatre production of Hamlet. And in terms of stairs, it's a lot more manageable than another stair-centric home featured in a post earlier today. What do you think?