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

Architectural Digest

This 322-Square-Foot Apartment Gives Classic Style a Contemporary Update

11.02

A warm, inviting color palette defines the different areas of this compact apartment while flexible solutions make the most of its limited space

Architecture + Design Architecture + Design / Architecture

Read at Architectural Digest ↗

One letter a week, starting soon.

Latest

This 322-Square-Foot Apartment Gives Classic Style a Contemporary Update

More from Architectural Digest on Uchi

65 Chicago Interior Designers to Know From the AD PRO Directory Architectural Digest

This Picture-Perfect Suburban Kitchen Is an Argument for Maxed-Out Storage, Smart Appliances, and Custom Furniture Architectural Digest

Jaylen Brown Is Keeping His Boston Skyrise Apartment—and Its 18th-Century Harp Too Architectural Digest

Where to Buy Vintage Lamps (2026): 1stDibs, Etsy, and More Architectural Digest

Skeleton Architecture: 7 Buildings That Prove Why Bones Are Some Designer’s Favorite Muse Architectural Digest

7 Best Lumbar Pillows Bolster Your Back and Bedscape (2026) Architectural Digest