Airhouse

This residence is located in the city of Iwakura, Aichi prefecture. The site is surrounded by buildings on three sides and faces a park across the road on the north side. The clients had two main requests. The first was that the spaces have an expansive feeling while at the same time not be too open to the surrounding environment. The second was that the layout provide a diversity of individual living spaces but still allow family members to sense one another’s presence. In response to these requests, we designed a structure with columnar two-story volumes in each of its four corners to serve as private living areas. The spaces between these volumes make up the shared living/dining/kitchen zone, which features a double-height ceiling with a large skylight at its peak. The high ceiling gives the space an expansive feeling, while the natural light pouring in from above provides both brightness and a sense of light shifting over time. Because all of the private rooms adjoin the open central space, all benefit from the skylight’s brightness. This layout is also intended to enable easy communication between family members on different sides of the central space. The rooms on the second floor are connected via bridges. This ensures smooth circulation, gives a loft-like feeling to some parts of the house, creates new spaces, and opens up communication between the first and second floors. As a whole the design provides a diversity of spaces without sacrificing ease of use, and creates a comfortable living environment where family members are able to sense both one another’s presence and the natural world outside.

This house is located on a narrow and long lot facing frontal roads on three sides. The client requested a home-cum-office with an open living-dining-kitchen space with high ceiling, which would be used as his own web design office; and he wanted to keep an appropriate distance between the work zone and the daily living zone where his wife does housework. Because the lot was narrow in the east-west direction, it was difficult to have a sufficient building width. Therefore, the floor plan was positioned obliquely to secure the necessary areas. The building corners were rounded to alleviate the building’s oppressive impression standing on the corner site; and an exterior space where lush greenery would be planted was provided by securing enough open space on the site. In this way, we intended to create an appropriate distance between the building and the roads and give it a gentle impression, while the lush greenery in the open area would provide natural scenery like a forest in the surrounding environment. As a result, we successfully realized architecture in the middle between house and office, and created an interior space with a natural feeling and an embracing atmosphere generated by the form based on curved lines. We think that this project is providing richness to both the family and the surrounding environment.

This renovation project is located in Nekogahora Dori, Chikusa-ku in Nagoya City, Aichi Prefecture. Two existing “machiya” (traditional Japanese wooden tradesmen’s houses) that were adjacently built 40 years ago are connected and converted into a single structure containing a residence and a shop. In response to the client’s request to design a large dining / kitchen space to host social gatherings, we have designed the entire entrance area as the dining / kitchen space. Space for living is located on the second floor to secure privacy while the lower and upper floors are not fully separated but connected by a void space to achieve a spacious loft-like open space. The existing floor-to-ceiling partition walls are basically removed to let in light from both the east and west sides to achieve a bright living space in a Japanese-style house which is supposed to have relatively dark rooms in typical configurations. By stripping the structure to reveal the skeleton, we intend to maximize the spatial efficiency and also added structural reinforcement based on the necessary calculations. Today the number of old buildings in need for renovation is rapidly increasing, and we intend to propose an effective solution to achieve rich space by utilizing, reducing and reinforcing existing structures. (for the shop design, please see description of “machimachi”.)

A piece of land in a Japanese persimmon (kaki) orchard was offered as the project area for a residential house. As the client wanted wide open spaces with high ceilings, a structure composed of a large roof set on top of seven thick columns was used. To secure copious glass windows, private areas are located inside the columns while intervals between columns are designated as living, dining and kitchen spaces. With this composition, only the sky and the kaki orchard are visible from the inside, giving the area an open feeling while the kaki trees provide a sense of privacy from the outside world, all of which makes for a relaxed atmosphere in the interior areas. As the landscape transforms with the changing of the kaki seasons, a generous living space is produced in the house nestled among the kaki trees.

This project was a renovation of a 40-year-old reinforced concrete apartment. The spaces of the house were designed from a viewpoint of “storing clothes”. It was said that the client had a passion for fashion and loved trying on clothes or displaying newly bought clothes. The client requested a large-sized closet space. However, we thought it was a shame to completely hide away the precious clothes. Therefore, a large closet space, called a dress room, was made in the center of the plan. The room functions as a passage as well as a display storage and a hide-away storage, and the space continuously changes depending on the situation or season. By doing so, fashion blends into life, and I believe that the space became a place to change the client’s mood whenever it was passed by. This renovation project was done by constructing spaces through re-examination of the conventional ideas of clothing storage.

One of our client’s major requirements was for a living space where the presence of the family would always be felt. In response, we devised a single-roomed layout without columns that took advantage of the distinctive features of the existing warehouse. A large kitchen was installed to cater to the needs of the food-loving husband-and-wife couple. We then conceived the entire living space by taking the kitchen as a focal point, with a mix of various other activities and functions unfolding around it. Within this single-roomed space, we also created a box-like structure with a loft bedroom for the children on top of it, and private quarters including a bedroom and bathroom inside it. In order to minimize heat loss within this massive space, a 100mm layer of urethane foam was added to the walls, floors and ceiling, while a combined heat and power device was installed in the living room to heat water and provide floor heating. All openings were designed by making use of existing sash windows and doors, while glass panes were all given a double-glazing treatment to improve insulation. The façade of the building was left intact in an effort to blend in with the surrounding neighborhood, as well as due to cost considerations. The result was a comfortable, luxurious home that made effective use of existing features while also avoiding excessive expense.