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Architects: Kii inc.
- Area: 97 m²
- Year: 2022
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Photographs:Masanori Kaneshita
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Manufacturers: Kvadrat
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Lead Architects: Satoshi Arai , Kei Nakatomi
Text description provided by the architects. We designed a residence that doubles as a workspace in a 50-year-old apartment building on high ground in the heart of the city. The building stands on a hillside in the shape of a mortar facing a nearby river. Because of the change in zoning across the road, there are no tall buildings in front of the apartment, and the balcony offers a wide view of the city stretching out to the horizon, merging with the sky.
The U-shaped floor has windows on three sides, allowing daylight to flow in and air to circulate throughout the day, as well as enabling the residents to feel close to the outdoors environment even inside. The topography and the long history of human presence create a unique quality of space that can be found nowhere else but in this very location. We wanted to create a comfortable place by maximizing and incorporating what is already here, combining all of the elements mentioned above.
Using the existing planar form, we have reinvented its gaps and empty spaces, constructing one whole space where everything is connected without blocking light or wind. By dividing and connecting the spaces, we created a place that feels like one large room where residents can share the same atmosphere and freely choose where they want to spend their time, feeling comfortable wherever they are.
The structure, which contains the handwriting and work of craftsmen, was designed to become a comfortable space by overlapping the new and the old, the rough texture and the delicate material, and the different qualities. The project was planned to create a comfortable space by layering new and old, rough and delicate materials and different qualities.
In order to reduce the influence of the strong daytime sunlight and outside air, double-paned wooden sash windows were installed on the west side of the house. We placed each of the fixtures in such a way as to improve insulation performance while at the same time creating a comfortable thermal environment for year-round living.
Transparent curtains on the south windows change color depending on the sunlight, swaying in the wind and reflecting the shade of the trees on the balcony. The leaves of the trees change color, flowers bloom, and fruits grow so that one can spend time each day feeling the change of weather and seasons.
We hope that the mixture of all the things that are here and the things that will be here in the future will grow into a rich space as residents continue to live in the house.
