Japanese architect Kimihiko Okada has completed a spiralling house on stilts in Hiroshima.
Raised up by metal columns, the two-storey residence, named Toda House, wraps around a courtyard garden.
Residents can walk underneath the building into this central courtyard, where a staircase leads up into a first floor lobby.
From here, rooms wind anticlockwise around the building and incrementally climb upwards.
Balconies are located at both ends of the coil and overlook the sea beyond.
Two other stories we’ve published about Kimihiko Okada feature mountains of aluminium foil – see them both here.
Photography is by Toshiyuki Yano.
Here’s some more text from the architect:
The site is located in a residential area developed on a gentle perch in Hiroshima, overlooking a far view of the Inland Sea and Miyajima.
The land of this area is developed into platforms form with several levels.
The architecture was requested to have a view over the roof of the neighboring house, standing one level lower, and to consider security, for the site is located at the edge of the residential area, and to leave some space for extension when the client opens a small shop in the future.
To respond to the requests, the house is lifted from the ground.
Like a bird’s nest, it called up architecture’s primary function of relief from disturbance.
The house is open to the view and yet protected from the fear and environment.
Slab and roof consists of one continuous plate.
The variations of circulation and diverse spatial relations were achieved by placing a penetrating staircase.
The extended plate made possible the future extension and softened the impression from the ground level.
Spandrel wall changes its height accordingly to the thickness of slab.
Together with the slab, the spandrel wall creates the continuous but various environments.
Location: Hiroshima, Hiroshima
Principal use: private residence (extension; shop)
Structure: steel structure two-storey
Building area: 90.21sqm
Total floor area: 114.26sqm
Structural Engineer: Structured Environment
Mechanical Engineer: System Design Laboratory
