Hasta La Ideas

Japanese studio FORM/Kouichi Kimura Architects has completed a family house in Shiga, Japan, that is 27 metres long but only 2.7 metres wide (+ slideshow).

Faced with an extremely long and narrow site, architect Kouichi Kimura designed both floors of the two-storey Promenade House with a simple layout, where sequences of rooms are connected by long corridors.

Most rooms open out to a corridor, making use of all available space. “As you proceed along the hallway you will see the spaces spread out, one after another,” said the architect.

A kitchen, dining area and living room occupy one space on the ground floor and feature windows that line the edges of the floor.

Steps at the back lead to a raised double-height study with a large rear window and a skylight overhead. A ladder leads from the study to the floor above, although residents can also use a staircase at the front of the house.

The corridor on the upper floor is divided in two. Silver curtains screen bedrooms and storages areas at one end, while the bathrooms are surrounded by turquoise walls, intended to give “an impression of cleanliness”.

Another double-height room is also contained on this floor and brings in light through clerestory windows. The architects refer to this space as a balcony, even though it’s completely enclosed by exterior walls.

Several polished concrete surfaces crop up though the building, while the floor in the living room is built from wood.

Kouichi Kimura set up his studio in Shiga in 1991. Other residential projects by the architect include House of Representation, which features a large light chimney, and House of Silence, designed to be deliberately alien to its neighbours.

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Photography is by Takumi Ota.

Read on for a project description from the architects:

Promenade House

The project is for the house owned by a young couple and is planned at the unique site 4 metres wide and 35 metres deep.

The geometrical restriction of the site is reflected in the internal composition of the house. The building, with a width of 2.7 metres and a total length of 27 metres, is laid out in accordance with the narrow site to draw its outline.

The internal space has been planned to have a long narrow hallway, with which your body senses the site geometry. As you proceed along the hallway you will see the spaces spread out one after another.

The long hallway is extended from the entrance on the first floor, led by the footlight through the dining and living rooms, and connected to the raised study at the very end. It reaches to the idyllic view seen through the large opening of the study where the tapered line of sight from the entrance is opened up.

On the second floor, two hallways are planned to be extended from the staircase that has a top light. One has a green wall aiming for colour effect. The vivid green hallway surrounds the balcony, giving an impression of cleanliness to the adjacent bathroom and washroom.

The other is connected from the kid room through the bed room to the bridge at the open-ceiling space. It is designed to control light; the light through the light transmissive curtain separating the kid room, or the sunlight from the high-side light in the open ceiling space leads you forward.

The end of the hallway becomes a bridge, and the ladder installed there connects the upper and lower spaces to produce continuity.

The green wall is used at both ends of the building, providing more impressiveness of the total length. The hallways laid out in this house are the promenades that strongly impress the site geometry.

Architects: FORM/Kouichi Kimura Architects
Location: Shiga, Japan
Client: Private

Construction Year: 2013
Site Area: 166,08 sqm
Constructed Area: 124,3 sqm

The post Promenade House by FORM/
Kouichi Kimura Architects appeared first on Dezeen.

Japanese studio FORM/Kouichi Kimura Architects designed this concrete house in Shiga to be deliberately alien to its neighbours (+ slideshow).

Named House of Silence, the two-storey building contains rooms with split levels and varying ceiling heights, creating a segmented structure with overlapping volumes and protruding walls. “The client wanted to have a house which is not influenced by the environment of its location,” explains architect and studio founder Kouichi Kimura.

“This house will give you the experience of going through a variety of sequences, like going through cloisters with the light,” he adds.

Above: photograph is by Kei Nakajima

The roof staggers up to its highest point in the north-west corner, creating a tower that Kimura refers to as a belfry.

Unlike the surrounding houses, most of the building’s walls and ceilings are concrete and the architect has also picked out a few surfaces with textured ceramic tiles.

A small courtyard contains seating areas slotted into horizontal recesses.

Some furniture inside the house uses the same materials as the architecture, so tiled worktops appear to extend from the walls and a glass dining table rests upon a precast concrete base that matches its backdrop.

One long concrete wall extends along the north-west facade, enclosing a large parking area for residents.

Japanese architect Kouichi Kimura set up his studio in Shiga in 1991 and other projects he’s completed include the House of Representation that features a large light chimney and the House of Integration based on traditional folk houses.

See more stories about FORM/Kouichi Kimura Architects »

Photography is by Takumi Ota.

Here’s some more information from Kouichi Kimura:

House of Silence

The client wanted to have a house which is not influenced by the environment of its location.

This architecture, which is composed of a concrete volume, has not got many windows and is closed by walls, but has got a variety of space inside that you will never imagine from outside.

The rough concrete finish, shiny tiles and an opening like a belfry will give you a hint of the variation of spaces inside.

The inside spaces are divided by the ceiling height, the different levels of floor and type of lights, and are then connected by the circulated line of flow.

Above: photograph is by Kei Nakajima

The inner court is cut off from the outside environment and shows a variety of expressions as the light changes.

Above: photograph is by Kei Nakajima

Moreover, the contrast of the height makes the space even deeper and wider than it actually is.

This house will give you the experience of going through a variety of sequences, like going through cloisters with the light.

Above: photograph is by Kei Nakajima

It exists as a landmark in the town, but it also has highly secured privacy and variety of spaces inside.

Above: photograph is by Kei Nakajima

Architects: FORM / Kouichi Kimura Architects
Location: Shiga, Japan

Client: Private
Construction Year: 2012

Site Area: 394,42 sq m
Constructed Area: 321,23 sq m

Above: ground floor plan

Above: first floor plan

The post House of Silence by FORM/
Kouichi Kimura Architects appeared first on Dezeen.

An adjacent busy road is screened from this house by Japanese firm FORM/Kouichi Kimura Architects, hidden behind a wall suspended over the terrace edge to line up with the boundary wall.

Called Gable House, the project is located in Shiga, Japan.

Behind the shielding wall the terrace is open to the sky, and skylights within funnel light down into the living space.

More about FORM/Kouichi Kimura Architects on Dezeen »

Photographs are by Takumi Ota.

The information that follows is from the architects:

Gable House

The site is faced with the heavily traveled arterial road. Living in such an environment, the client would like to have an open and tranquil space where you would not be conscious about surrounding lines of sight.

The house was carefully designed to connect the exterior and interior – the concrete wall is built to interrupt lines of sights and noises from the road, and the hanging wall is also established in front of the opening.

The top and bottom of the hanging wall are opened.

The light that goes through the top opening is projected on the wall, and the reflected soft light is introduced into the room.

The bottom opening is designed to view the yard.

The two walls play a role in extending visual expansion into the inside of the house while protecting privacy.

The casing of the opening is raised a little from the floor. It is designed so that people spontaneously gather and stay around while sitting on or using it as a table.

The vertical intense light from the top light in the living room, combined with the horizontal line of sight controlled by the two walls and the soft light reflected from the hanging wall, realizes the open and tranquil habitation space.

The volume with the simple gable roof, which is determined for snow accumulation, incorporates the expanding inner space of the highly calculated design.

Architects: FORM/Kouichi Kimura Architects
Location: Shiga:Japan
Client: Private

Construction Year: 2010

Site Area:165㎡

Constructed Area: 82m2

See also:

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House of Reticence by FORM/Kouichi Kimura	House of Resonance by FORM/Kouichi Kimura	House of Spread by FORM/Kouichi Kimura