A house is just a building. A home is filled with the warmth and individuality of its inhabitants. Which is where Robert Neil Hugo comes into the picture.
Neil, as he is best known, is a Canadian builder with over 20 years of experience, initially in collaboration with the Japanese construction industry and more recently going it alone. His company, based in Tonosho-machi, Chiba Prefecture, is named Foothill Homes ("my wife's idea"), after the address where he grew up in British Columbia: 601 Foothill Road, Salmon Arm. (Yes, really!)
Right now he is working on a house for a British client in Yamate, Yokohama, so we meet halfway. Stocky, with blue eyes made all the more distinctive by a ruddy tan, Neil says he is down there most days, keeping an eye on the way the project is progressing. "The site is challenging, since half lies at an angle of 45 degrees. The foundations are being laid right now." And so saying, he brings out the plans.