Hasta La Ideas

Japanese architect Hironaka Ogawa designed this rural house in Kagawa like a sundial, with a south-facing tower that casts shadows across a grassy courtyard (+ slideshow).

Named Sundial House, the building is the home of a farmer, so Hironaka Ogawa wanted to create a structure that reflects the seasonal calendar: “My goal was to build a home where the client can feel the seasons change from winter, spring, summer and fall”.

He continues: “To accomplish this, I proposed this courtyard house with a two-storey unit in the middle of the site. As a result, the shadow of the tower moves slowly throughout the day.”

The six-metre high tower with windows on three sides contains two bedroom floors and an attic.

The rest of the rooms are contained in a single-storey volume that outlines the perimeter of the courtyard on three sides, creating a sequence of spaces with glazed elevations. Most of the glass panels slide open, so that rooms including the living room and dining room can easily be opened out to the garden.

A wall of timber separates the courtyard from the surrounding field. Externally, this wall is stained in dark red, while the internal surfaces are white.

Sundial House is our sixth recent story about the work of architect Hironaka Ogawa. Other residential projects include a house with indoor trees in Kagawa and a house with chunks missing from its sloping roof. See more architecture by Hironaka Ogawa.

Photography is by Daici Ano, apart from where otherwise stated.

Here’s a project description from Hironaka Ogawa:

Sundial House

This house stands in the middle of the fields in the country. The client does farming on the side.

The site draws attention from the street; however it is not a place from which one can enjoy beautiful scenery in particular. Yet the client desired to live openly in this home.

Modern housing lacks the feelings of seasonal and time changes by the artificial environment. My goal was to build a home where the client can feel the seasons change from winter, spring, summer and fall as a farmer. In order to accomplish this, I proposed this courtyard house with a two-storey unit in the middle of the site, surrounded by a one-storey unit.

I purposefully placed the two-storey unit on the south part of the site to block the sun. As a result, the shadow of the tower moves slowly throughout the day. In addition, the shadows of objects and places to stay within the home move accordingly.

Above: photograph is by the architect

In the summer, there would be a summer shadow. In the winter, there would be a winter shadow. The house shows different appearances in each of the four seasons. There would be a rhythm in the home’s atmosphere created by the shadow of the tower, intentionally constructed on the south part of the site.

Also, the client can feel the sense of privacy at the same time as the indication of the each room by placing a small courtyard in the one-storey unit to maintain the distances in the house.

In conclusion, this house is like a sundial where one can feel the change of the seasons along with the surrounding fields.

Function: private house
Location: Kagawa, Japan
Structure: wood frame
Site area: 727.69 sqm
Architectural area: 132.21 sqm
Total floor area: 147.51 sqm

Above: site plan

Above: plan – click for larger image

Above: long section – click for larger image

Above: short section – click for larger image

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Hironaka Ogawa appeared first on Dezeen.

Zig-zagging pleats embellish the facade of this wedding centre in Saitama, Japan, in our fourth recent story about the work of architect Hironaka Ogawa (+ slideshow).

Named Pleats.M, the two-storey building was planned as the first in a chain of marriage centres for a new weddings brand, so Hironaka Ogawa was asked to come up with a strong brand identity that could be reused for other locations.

“To render gorgeousness as a wedding facility, I introduced the idea of pleated walls,” explains the architect. “The pleats can fit into any shape by expanding and contracting. Therefore, the pleated wall is perfect for not only this project but also the future projects on undecided sites.”

Walls inside the building also form pleats, but the creases are inverted to create a reverse of the facade. This gives the impression that the walls are no thicker than a single sheet of metal.

Apart from a length of glazing along the facade, there are no windows to interrupt the pleats. This also helps to shut out any noise from the road.

Wedding parties enter via a double-height entrance foyer, where a processional staircase leads up to the chapel on the first floor. This small hall features an illuminated aisle, faceted benches and a decorative ceiling.

Once the ceremony is over, guests are invited down to a double height room on the ground floor for the reception celebrations.

Other spaces include a waiting room containing two long tables, where lighting fixtures are folded to match the pleated walls.

Hironaka Ogawa set up his studio in 2005 and has also completed another wedding chapel, which features columns shaped like trees. See more architecture by Hironaka Ogawa on Dezeen.

Photography is by Daici Ano.

Here’s a project description from Hironaka Ogawa:

Pleats.M

This is a project for a wedding facility located by a suburban road. The client desired to launch a fresh wedding brand and requested me to create a design that will be repeatable in their following developments.

Also, the client desired a new concept for their facility that reflected their unique site. Ordinary and traditional suburban wedding facilities would not use sites as narrow and irregularly shaped as this one.

First of all, I shut the noise from the heavy traffic on the national road by creating a totally closed façade which dramatizes the extraordinary. In order to construct a building of the maximum building-to-land ratio on the irregular-shape site as well as to render gorgeousness as a wedding facility, I introduced the idea of pleated walls. The uniquely pleated walls serve as both decorations and building structures.

In addition, the pleats make shadows that change slowly by the sun further creating various looks each season. The pleated wall has reversed pattern on its back counterpart. Therefore, even a single pleated wall shows different looks on its exterior and interior simultaneously. The interior space is introverted for the facility function. However, I wanted to link the interior to the exterior by the two important walls; one runs along the main access via the national road, and another runs along the approach from the municipal road.

By attaching the entrance hall, the mezzanine lounge, the chapel, the waiting room and restrooms to the two walls, I planned the pleated walls to be prominent from the inside as well. The pleats can fit into any shape by expanding and contracting. Therefore, the pleated wall is perfect for not only this project but also the future projects on undecided sites.

Considering these factors, I chose the brand name “Pleats” inspired by the architectural shape, and I incorporated the pleats motif on the fixtures, the furniture, and even accessories.

Pleats on clothing bring a unique richness by folding a large fabric. It is a very simple rule to fold. However, diverse folds host many functions such as structure, decorations, and sound reflectors. Thereby the pleated walls create various spaces for wedding ceremonies.

Function: wedding hall
Location: Saitama, Japan
Structure: steel frame
Site area: 1487.46 sqm
Architectural area: 1033.19 sqm
Total floor area: 1398.89 sqm

Above: site plan – click for larger image

Above: ground floor plan – click for larger image

Above: first floor plan – click for larger image

Above: sections – click for larger image

Above: west elevation – click for larger image

Above: east elevation – click for larger image

The post Pleats.M by
Hironaka Ogawa appeared first on Dezeen.

More from architect Hironaka Ogawa: the two trees felled to make way for this house extension in Kagawa, Japan, were reinstalled inside the living room (+ slideshow).

The two-storey extension branches out into the garden of the 35-year-old family house to provide a residence for the client’s daughter and her husband.

The two trees stood in the way of construction and had to be removed beforehand, but Hironaka Ogawa was concerned about the connection they had to the family’s history. “These trees looked over the family for 35 years,” he explains.

The architect decided to keep the trees intact, dry them out and insert them into a double-height living and dining room. The floor was sunken just below ground level to ensure enough height to fit them in.

“Utilising these trees and creating a new place for the client became the main theme for the design,” says Ogawa, and explains that the family asked a Shinto priest to perform an exorcism on the trees as they were cut down.

Entitled Garden Tree House, the residence also contains a mezzanine loft that squeezes in alongside the trees. Bathrooms are tucked away below it.

Walls and ceilings are painted white, allowing the yellow and brown shades of the trees to stand out.

Trees were also the centrepiece of a wedding chapel that Hironaka Ogawa designed, which we featured on Dezeen this week. See more architecture from Japan on Dezeen.

Photography is by Daici Ano.

Here’s a full project description from Hironaka Ogawa:

Garden Tree House

This is an extension project on a thirty-five year-old house for a daughter and her husband. A Zelkova tree and a Camphor tree stood on the site since the time the main house was build thirty-five years ago.

Removing these trees was one of the design requirements because the new additional building could not be built if these trees remained. When I received the offer for the project, I thought of various designs before I visited the site for the first time. However, all my thoughts were blown away as soon as I saw the site in person. The two trees stood there quite strongly.

I listen to the stories in detail; the daughter has memories of climbing these trees when she was little. These trees looked over the family for thirty-five years. They coloured the garden and grew up with the family. Therefore, utilising these trees and creating a new place for the client became the main theme for the design.

In detail, I cut the two trees with their branches intact. Then I reduced the water content by smoking and drying them for two weeks. Thereafter, I placed the trees where they used to stand and used them as main structural columns in the center of the living room, dining room, and kitchen.

In order to mimic the way the trees used to stand, I sunk the building an additional 70 centimetres down in the ground. I kept the height of the addition lower than the main house while still maintaining 4 metre ceiling height.

By the way, the smoking and drying process was done at a kiln within Kagawa prefecture. These two trees returned to the site without ever leaving the prefecture.

The client asked a Shinto priest at the nearby shrine to remove evil when the trees were cut. Nobody would go that far without a love and attachment to these trees.

When this house is demolished and another new building constructed by a descendant of the client hundreds of years from now, surely these two trees will be reused in some kind of form.

Above: site plan – click for larger image

Above: floor plan – click for larger image

Above: cross section – click for larger image

Above: long section – click for larger image

Above: exploded isometric – click for larger image

The post Garden Tree House
by Hironaka Ogawa appeared first on Dezeen.