Japanese architects StudioGreenBlue have inserted concrete bars behind the glazed wall in this family home in Fukaya, Saitama Prefecture, Japan.
Called House with Concrete Louvers, the house has been designed in accordance with the weather conditions of the area and features a long floor plan and a walled garden.
The architects decided upon concrete as a material for its thermal capacity because the site, located in the Kantō Plain, is thought to be the hottest area in Japan, as well as suffering harsh winds during the winter.
The louvres also act as a shading device.
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The following information is from the architects:
House with a concrete louver
Now environmental problems are the most important issue on the Earth.
However, in the other side almost of all people prefer the house using a lot of glasses for the spread of the space and depends on the air conditioner.
Therefore we think to make the comfortable house which has a large opening to get a refreshing feeling.
Using the energy of the nature, the warmth of the sunlight and the winds, we make a comfortable place, cool in summer, warm in winter.
The site is an inland area in the kanto-plain where is the hottest place in Japan.
The ground is surrounded by the field of spring onion, sandy north wind blow in through the gap of sash in winter.
In such a harsh environment, inhabitants of this house, who are extremely sensitive to the cold, hope a room which is a warm and to be able to keep privacy.
We picked on the concrete, that has a big calorific capacity.
Storing the heat, bringing the light, bearing the horizontal power, operation of sight, guiding the flow of the man, reducing the cold draft by using the concrete as the louver.
Making the house as the concrete louver primary, it indicates us a new possibility between a man and house.
The house has the opening, like a gate, to shut out the sunlight and take more wind in.
The space between each concrete louver contracts toward the bottom for blocking the sunlight, widens toward the top for seeing the sky.
That easy turn becomes a sociable screen considering the privacy and temper.
The gradation of the sunlight accompany time gives a gaily life.
Japanese house has had “central pillar” and has supported the houses and the family’s minds since a long time ago.
But in the present age when an environmental problem became the most important problem the concrete louver furnishes protection of the privacy and main role on the space of structure, the construction and energy saving.
That shoulders the role of new central pillar.
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