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

The post Sundial House by
Hironaka Ogawa appeared first on Dezeen.

Japanese studio General Design constructed this two-storey house in Tokyo as the prototype for a series of urban housing templates that can be replicated in any Japanese city (+ slideshow).

“The clients simply asked for a basic house for themselves and their two children, so we regarded this project as an opportunity to work on urban house prototypes,” says General Design.

The building comprises a simple two-storey volume with a gabled roof and a plaster-covered exterior. There are no windows on the front facade, but a sky-lit atrium and private courtyard are contained behind the walls.

Skylights are dotted along the roof on both sides, bringing natural light into the house from different angles. There’s also a square window in the top-floor living room, offering a view out across the neighbourhood.

A large living and dining room spans the length of the building and folds around to a kitchen at the back. The glazed courtyard sits on the left, while an extra room at the front provides an office that allows residents to work from home.

An industrial staircase spirals up to the first floor, where a second living room leads through to three separate bedrooms.

General Design is led by Japanese architect Shin Ohori. Other projects by the studio include the bare concrete and steel headquarters for clothing brand Neighborhood and the windowless concrete flagship for Lad Musician. See more architecture by General Design.

Photography is by Daici Ano.

Here’s a project description from General Design:

Prototyping UH

The site is located in a typical urban site in central Tokyo, where low-rise wooden houses and light gauge steel apartment buildings are densely built up in narrow quarters.

The clients simply asked for a basic house for themselves and their two children, so we regarded this project as an opportunity to work on urban house prototypes.

This simple pitched-roof house, finished plainly with mortar, has rustic appearance like a barn.

Above: ground floor plan – click for larger image

We adopted a standard wood frame system to achieve a simple layout and low-cost construction. This prototype can be adjusted and be built on any other urban sites.

Above: first floor plan – click for larger image

Large openings are located around the small courtyard on ground floor, and a picture window towards the adjacent park is provided in additional living room on the second floor. And large skylights on the roof allows for nice breeze to flow inside, and also give contrasting effect of light and shadow throughout the house.

Above: second floor plan – click for larger image

We opened up the interior space as much as possible so that the family feels as if spending relaxing time outside, under the blue sky. We intended to turn this tiny urban lot into a place where the family members can live openly and enjoy sufficient light and wind.

Above: long section – click for larger image

Architect: Shin Ohori / General Design Co., Ltd.
Location: Meguro, Tokyo
Site Area: 120.04 sqm
Built Area: 64.33 sqm
Total Floor Area: 141.07 sqm
Structural System: Timber
Completion Date: May 2012

Above: cross section – click for larger image

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General Design appeared first on Dezeen.

This house in Saitama, Japan, by architects SNARK and OUVI has bronze-coloured walls and a terrace cut out from the roof (+ slideshow).

The three-storey residence is located on a small corner plot within the suburban town of Honjyo. The building follows the irregular outline of the site, but is set back on one side to leave enough space for a car parking area.

The stripy metal cladding covers the entire exterior, wrapping over the roof and across the front door.

Behind the cladding, the house has a simple timber frame. Criss-crossing beams are revealed on the ceiling over the ground floor, but the structure is concealed elsewhere inside the house.

The architects added tall narrow windows to three elevations. The first and second floors are set back from the windows, creating triangular lightwells that let daylight through the building.

A steel staircase with timber treads extends up through the centre of the house, acting as an informal screen between rooms. On the ground floor it separates the living room from the kitchen, while on the first floor it splits the largest of two bedrooms into a sleeping area and study.

The uppermost floor contains a second living room, which opens out to the rooftop terrace.

This isn’t the first time Japanese studios SNARK and OUVI have teamed up on a project. The pair previously collaborated on a pair of apartment blocks that look like clusters of houses.

See more houses in Japan, including a house with two trees inside it.

Photography is by Ippei Shinzawa.

Here’s a project description from SNARK:

House in Keyaki

Honjyo-shi is a small area located in Saitama Prefecture. It is an hour and a half by car from Tokyo, Japan. Almost all residents here always use their own cars when they go somewhere because there is no available public transportation like trains and buses. This means that we need to consider providing parking spaces when building new houses within this area.

First, when we thought the outline of this house, we allotted the proper setbacks within the site. From this, we came up with a car parking space and a small garden. At the same time, we could get enough sunlight from every directions.

Second, we designed three narrow windows on the south, east and west side of the house. Then we designed triangle voids in front of these windows on the second floor.

These voids provided visual connections to the outside and inside of the house. And people inside this house can anticipate the presence of each other within different spaces or rooms. You could feel how the sunlight changes anytime as well as the changes in season.

Finally, we set some furniture on the border of the triangle voids and each places. The inner space of this architecture is divided into smaller spaces and it can be adjusted depending on the resident’s preference.

Architects: Sunao Koase / SNARK (Sunao Koase, Yu Yamada) + Shin Yokoo / OUVI
Structural engineer: Shin Yokoo / OUVI
General constructors: Yasumatsu Takken

Location: Honjyo city, Saitama, Japan
Site area: 132.24 sqm
Built area: 55.54 sqm
Floor area: 103.13 sqm
Number of floors: 2
Structure: wood

Design: 2011.4-2012.3
Construction: 2012.3-2012.7

Above: ground floor plan – click for larger image

Above: first floor plan – click for larger image

Above: second floor plan – click for larger image

Above: cross section one – click for larger image

Above: cross section two – click for larger image

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and OUVI appeared first on Dezeen.

A bedroom and bathroom are hidden inside a white box in this converted warehouse by Japanese architects Airhouse Design Office (+ slideshow).

Located in Yoro, a small town in Gifu Prefecture, the main space of the house is on the first floor of the converted warehouse, accessed via a staircase inside the ground-floor garage.

Airhouse Design Office inserted a large white box in the centre of the space, creating private rooms inside and a loft above.

Designed for a couple who are keen on cooking, the focal point of the house is the large kitchen.

The kitchen units were made from ash, while artificial marble was used on the worktops and table.

To minimise heat loss in the large space, a thick layer of urethane foam was added to the walls and ceiling before they were covered in plywood panels.

The loft is accessed by a wide white staircase and used as a children’s bedroom.

Inside the box is the main bedroom, painted a deep shade of purple, a lime green bathroom and a separate toilet.

Airhouse Design Office was founded by architect Keiichi Kiriyama in 2009 and is based in Ogaki, a city in Gifu Prefecture.

Other houses in Japan we’ve featured lately include a building based on the Fibonacci mathematical sequence and an extension featuring tree trunks that stretch from floor to ceiling– see all Japanese houses.

Photographs are by Toshiyuki Yano.

Here’s some more information from the architect:

House in Yoro

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-room 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.

Above: ground floor plan

The result was a comfortable, luxurious home that made effective use of existing features while also avoiding excessive expense.

Above: first floor plan

Location: Yoro, Gifu
Date of Completion: May 2012
Principal Use: Private House

Above: mezzanine plan

Structure: Steel Frame
Site area: 1027.34 sq m
Total Floor Area: 131.58 sq m

Above: section

Above: section

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Airhouse Design Office appeared first on Dezeen.

This narrow house on a high street in Tokyo by Apollo Architects & Associates features a glazed ground-floor gallery (+ slideshow).

The three-storey house has a long and slim shape that is common for city residences in Japan, which are often referred to as eel’s beds or nests.

Apollo Architects & Associates designed the building with a simple rectangular facade and added the glazed gallery in a prominent position on the left-hand side. The entrance to the house sits to the right and is recessed to create a sheltered porch.

A grid of eight windows stretches across the facade on the upper levels to bring natural light into the two main residential storeys.

On the first floor, a blue-painted partition separates a small study from a traditional Japanese room, while a bathroom is tucked away at the back.

One floor up, a single room spans the building to create a living room with a kitchen at its far end.

The staircase connecting the three floors is made from steel and features open treads that allow light to pass through. It extends up to the roof, which accommodates a small terrace.

Apollo Architects & Associates is led by Satoshi Kurosaki and also recently completed a house with three courtyards behind a concrete exterior. See more architecture by Apollo Architects & Associates.

Other Japanese houses on Dezeen recently include an extension with two tree inside it and a residence with twisted proportions generated using the Fibonacci mathematical sequence. See more houses in Japan.

Photography is by Masao Nishikawa.

Here’s some more information from Apollo Architects & Associates:

Flag (Nakano Ward, Tokyo)

The site for this residence is narrow on the side facing the shopping district and long in the other direction, just like an “eel’s bed”. The facade is composed of large openings arranged in a regular grid.

The couple – a husband who works for an advertisement company and wife who works for a furniture store – is an active DINKS (double-income, no kids) couple.

The first floor is the glazed gallery which opens toward the street. Even though the house is compact, it can generate income when also used as a shop and by including a space for people to gather, it attains a public character. It is an urban residence which can offer a lifestyle of the future.

Location: Nakano ward, Tokyo
Completion: 2013.01

Site area: 45.19 sqm
Building area: 34.59 sqm
1F floor area: 31.09 sqm
2F floor area: 34.59 sqm
3F floor area: 34.59 sqm
PH floor area: 3.95 sqm
Total floor area: 105.03 sqm

Structure: Steel
Scale: 3F
Typology: Private housing + Retail

Structures: Masaki Structures, Kneta Masaki
Facility engineers: Shimada Architects, Zenei Shimada
Construction: Ido Construction

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& Associates appeared first on Dezeen.