- Area: 58 m²
- Year: 2014
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Photographs:Ippei Shinzawa
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Structural Engineer: Ouvi, Shin Yokoo
Text description provided by the architects. After a 50 minutes drive from Takasaki city, Gunma, a place between village and city, you will see the building, having both residential and commercial spaces.
The kind of highway that bypass load is located right in front of this site. Setting this road-side location as a key factor, we had to combine both concepts: a house and a store.
To characterize the building as a store, it needed to hold a commercial presence. Therefore, we decided to make the whole architecture as a sign. The external space will collect attentions from outside. The internal space will frame the space.
The site was planned not to shut down drivers' eyes on the road in consideration of being seen from the outside , after considering the wants we had to satisfy at the same time. To show the architecture, the shape factor, volume, and the plot was designed.
We designed the commercial area on the ground floor and the residential area on the second floor. The ground floor has a wide opening, catching eyes from outside. The second floor has a hardly visible opening, preventing the passers-by from seeing inside.
From the windows upstairs, residents are able to see the magnificent view of the mountains surrounding around (Akagisan, Asamayama, and Myougisan). These windows help provide enough lights to the space.
