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Architects: GoGo1122
- Area: 114 m²
- Year: 2024
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Photographs:Akira Nakamura, Satoshi Asakawa
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Manufacturers: ARIAKE, BEAL, HAY, LIXIL , NEW LIGHT POTTERY, Porters Paint, Tajima, YABASHI MARBLE, Yamada shomei, cera
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Lead Architects: Go Kawakita
Text description provided by the architects. In a community where nature endures and history unfolds with grace, there stood a house, 75 years in the making. This was an architect's personal project, breathing new life into an ancient dwelling. The neighborhood, a tapestry of a few homes, has remained unchanged since its urban planning a century ago. Three generations have called this place home, their bonds forged in shared classrooms from kindergarten through middle school. The allure of this land is evident in the care its inhabitants bestow upon their daily lives. Yet, as generations shift, migration to urban centers has begun, and the legal constraints of this district have hindered architectural evolution, leading to a peculiar "urban depopulation."
Could we not become a part of this intimate community, bridging the accumulated affection for this land to future generations? Rather than "replacing" residents and erasing the building's history, we aimed for a renovation that would serve as a memory of predecessors for future inhabitants. Our involvement in the timeless narrative of this land and structure is but a fleeting moment. This is architecture for a future where various "passages of time" - the building, its surroundings, and the community - coexist in harmonious continuity.
For the small community where this edifice stands, the park to the east and the local path winding to the west have long been cherished companions, embraced with deep affection. Yet, the existing structure, with its openings solely facing the front garden, had erected clear boundaries against these beloved spaces through blank walls and towering hedges. In this renovation, we have unfurled a grand aperture on the eastern facade, accompanied by an earthen terrace flowing seamlessly from the living area. The intricate maze of partitions has been dissolved, giving birth to a unified expanse. Moreover, we have breathed new life into the construction's remnants - the earthen walls and foundation soil - reincarnating them as the focal point of the space, a newly erected earthen wall, thus orchestrating a symphony of material rebirth.
Through these transformations, the park, the interior realm, the front garden, and the local path now intertwine in harmonious unity. The resulting floor plan allows one to sense the gentle passage of time occurring in the surrounding world, like leaves turning with the seasons or shadows lengthening across the day.
In a poetic dance of old and new, two Design Datums were conceived to preserve the spatial memory of the existing dwelling even after renovation. The first, a harmonious alignment of openings at H1950mm, echoes the height of the original lintels. The second, a demarcation between past and present, caps the renovated finishes at H2300mm—the height of the existing ceiling—above which the original structure stands bare, a testament to time. These twin Design Datums intertwine the bodily sensations of the old house with the ongoing narrative of the existing framework, allowing them to coexist within the newly crafted spaces. In the realm beyond walls, a gentle boundary of earthen terraces was envisioned, nurturing the delicate threads of community woven through years of inhabitation.
Here, one may directly caress the recycled materials of the old and the weathered bones of the existing structure, while new spaces accumulate fresh memories. It is a sensory symphony where past and present stimulate the five senses in a harmonious concert.
