Tato Architects

Kobe, Japan

Tato Architects is a Kobe-based architecture practice founded in 1997 by Yo Shimada (b. 1972, Kobe), who studied and completed his postgraduate degree at the Kyoto City University of Arts. The studio name Tato derives from the decomposition of the kanji character 外 (outside). The practice works primarily on private houses throughout Japan, with recent projects extending into interiors and installations. Shimada's design approach resists conventional spatial planning and challenges the fixed relationships between rooms, levels, and movement, pursuing what he describes as dynamic abstractness rather than static abstraction. The studio has produced an extensive body of residential work characterized by split-level plans, unconventional structural logic, and close attention to secondary architectural elements including staircases, balustrades, and windows. Key projects include House in Takatsuki (16 split levels), House in Hokusetsu (a crystalline labyrinth of 12 square volumes), House in Toyonaka, and Tato House in Kobe. Work has been widely published in Dezeen, ArchDaily, Designboom, and Domus.