Japanese bento boxes can be a great way to enjoy a smorgasbord of tasty dishes on the go or simply sitting down to take in a varied dining experience. They can also be pretty aesthetically pleasing, with each meal portion being arranged and plated perfectly in its own individual compartment.

Takumi "Anhelo" Sekiya (@ANHELO69) noticed a striking similarity between the layout of a perfect bento box and a well built home. That's why he and his colleagues decided to form Kenchiku Bento (Bento Architecture)--a bento box design studio inspired by famous Japanese architecture and hoping to introduce it through fascinating and unique bento designs.

The four member design collective was inspired to introduce new concepts to bento box design by Japanese architecture, and operate under the theme of "great spatial composition makes great bento composition", unifying architectural layout with that of a bento box.

While many conventional bento boxes have flat and low-rise designs, Bento Architecture takes advantage of their compact nature that tries to make the most out of every bit of space by looking to multi-layered architecture with interesting cross-sections to try and build a new bento experience.

Anhelo recently shared photos of a concept called "Tokyo Apartment" inspired by the work of architect Sou Fujimoto (@soufujimoto). The bento takes its design from a modern apartment in Itabashi, Tokyo, and reflects the layout of several smaller living spaces adding up to one housing complex.

The design is also meant to reflect the idea of people of many different nationalities living close together in Tokyo, with independent delicacies from different countries (Chinese, Italian, Japanese, etc.) all being placed into separate bento boxes that ultimately compose a larger bento experience.

By fusing architectural design and bento layout together, the dining experience can be enjoyed not just by the delicious dishes served, but by the pleasant surprise of removing roofs from rooms and peering inside windows colored by different delicacies.

This is just one of what is hopefully a growing number of awesome architecture-inspired bento boxes by Bento Architecture. To keep up with the project, be sure to check in at their homepage, Twitter, and Instagram.