A room is a decision about how you want to be tired at the end of the day.

I live in forty-eight square metres in Tokyo with one good chair and far too many bowls, so I have had to mean that. I trained as an architect and left to write, which my teachers took badly. Uchi (内) means inside, and it means home: the room you come back to. The palette comes after the tiredness. So does the name on the lamp.

This is where I keep what the world's rooms are doing. Around seventy sources, read in Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Vietnamese, Italian, French and English: an apartment in Seoul, a house outside Taipei, a Copenhagen showroom seen from here rather than from Denmark. East first, because east is where I am sitting.

Each story is a headline, an excerpt of a few lines, one photograph and a link to whoever did the work. We never reprint the piece, and the photograph belongs to the person who took it. When a room was written up in Korean or Italian it stays in Korean or Italian here; the link takes you to the writer's own words.

I am not trying to be complete. I am trying to notice.

— Mio Tachibana, Tokyo

← Uchi Archive

AD IndiaIndia

10 iconic Geoffrey Bawa buildings that prove he’s the modernist you need to know

October 5

See 10 striking buildings by the Sri Lankan architect, who was a pioneer of sustainable architecture and locally sourced craftsmanship.

Architecture and Design Architecture and Design / Architecture

Read at AD India ↗

One letter a week, in your inbox.

Latest

10 iconic Geoffrey Bawa buildings that prove he’s the modernist you need to know

More from AD India on Uchi

IndiaInside a designer's Bengaluru apartment that bridges three continents and three generations AD India

IndiaParis Design Week 2026 in review: editor's picks AD India

IndiaCeramic tiles vs. Vitrified tiles: what to know before choosing between the two AD India

IndiaIn the homes of these 5 Indian creatives, personality overflows from every corner AD India

India7 beautiful homes in India layered with memories of the past AD India

IndiaHow 12 design studios are rethinking classical arches for modern Indian homes AD India