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Architects: T2P Architects Office
- Area: 225 m²
- Year: 2022
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Photographs:Shigeo Ogawa
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Manufacturers: Sanwa Conpany, Toto
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Lead Architects: Shikwan Yang, Tomonori Miura, Tatsuhito Ono
Text description provided by the architects. The site is located in a quiet residential area in Nishinomiya City, Hyogo Prefecture. The client wanted a strong framework of concrete as a symbol of space, and at the same time, a house that could accommodate the growth of children and changes in lifestyle. The reinforced concrete wall structure is used for the main walls on the perimeter, while the one-room indoor space is connected by an atrium. The structural walls are reduced as much as possible, and fittings are used as partition walls between the private rooms. The themes of this house are constancy and variability, inconvenience, and freedom.
Rather than a closed courtyard house with concrete exterior walls that tightly protect privacy, we aimed to create a living space that is connected to the external environment, such as the town and the garden. To this end, large openings were placed as much as possible on the exterior walls, while retaining the structurally necessary walls. The square openings, arranged in an ordered sequence, define the relationship with the exterior, depending on whether they are glazed or not, and whether they are opened or closed by shutters or curtains. In addition, the openings were blocked with concrete blocks and adjusted to the necessary size to accommodate the indoor space required by the current family situation and lifestyle.
The curved staircase and large windows in various locations create a three-dimensional depth to the one-room interior space. The large openings surrounding the living room provide a sense of openness, but sometimes it is necessary to block the line of sight. The curtains, which are more than twice as long as usual, provide flexibility in controlling transparency by adjusting the coarseness and density of the fabric. The curtains control the line of sight while cutting off fragments of the exterior landscape and neighboring rooms, creating an open space while maintaining privacy in a densely populated residential area.
The parking lot, entrance, and staircase on the first floor and the living/dining room on the second floor are living spaces, but they also serve as spaces for exhibiting the client's collections, including vintage cars and paintings. The calligraphic sculpture at the entrance as a nameplate is an element of introduction to the space. The horizontal display shelves throughout the house are decorated with figures from the client's hobbies, bringing color to the living space near the windows. The third floor was planned as a flexible space for the growing children's rooms and a study. The individual spaces, translucent polycarbonate movable partition walls, are designed to accommodate and update the changing needs of the family in the future.
The textures of the materials that fill the space, such as exposed concrete, blocks, wood, stone, and fabric, were planned after carefully considering the balance of their textures in each location. The passage of time is imprinted on the surface of the materials, and by accumulating the family's time in the space, it is hoped that the house will serve as a memory vessel that will bring about a long-lasting sense of attachment to its residence.
