Hasta La Ideas

Trees line the protruding balconies of this concrete house in Nagoya, Japan, by Tokyo studio Ryo Matsui Architects (+ slideshow).

Named Balcony House, the four-storey dwelling was designed by Ryo Matsui Architects with three large balconies and a roof terrace that give views of the surrounding city, but are also screened behind planted trees.

“The two metre wide balcony becomes the buffer area with the road and takes on the function of eaves,” said the architect. “We suggest that the balconies have a beneficial influence, not only for the interior, but they become part of the new cityscape.”

Trees planted on the first and the second floor balconies can grow taller through openings in the floor slabs above.

A side entrance leads into the house and ascends directly upstairs, bypassing two parking spaces and a study on the ground floor.

A child’s playroom is located towards the rear of the first floor, while a glass wall exposes the stairwell and an en suite bedroom lined with wooden panels opens out onto the first balcony.

On the second floor, dark wooden panels cover the walls and ceilings of the kitchen and living room, contrasting with sections of exposed concrete that shows the marks of its timber formwork.

The third floor features a bathroom and a walk-in-wardrobe, accessed by a central corridor. An L-shaped balcony with timber decking wraps around the front bedroom.

A outdoor staircase lead up from the third balcony to the roof terrace, which features an al fresco dining area with plants built into the decking.

Photography is by Daici Ano.

Here is some more information from the architect:

The Balcony House

The balconies and new cityscape

In the residential area which have a low-rise building apartment complex and new houses with small balconies, we designed RC 4-floor house.

In Japan, especially the centre of Tokyo, the house next to each other extremely approaches the site boundary.

Although it is the place where we want to expect the openness to the frontal road necessarily, the site facing each other is the same condition.

There are small balconies, and the planters for blindfolds.

It is not exaggeration even if it is said that balconies influence the cityscape in the crowd place of the residential area. The two-metre wide balcony becomes the buffer area with the road and takes on the function of eaves.

Getting plants grown wild by keeping enough depth of the balconies, it is higher than an upper balcony and brought it up. We suggest that the balconies have a beneficial influence not only for the interior, but they become part of the new cityscape.

Project name: Balcony House
Building Site: Minato-ku
Tokyo Architect: Ryo Matsui Architects Inc.
Structure Design: Akira Suzuki / ASA
Principal use: Private house

Architectural Area: 118.58 m²
Total Floor Area: 202.6 m²
1st Floor Area: 113.41 m²
2nd Floor Area: 106.67 m²
3rd Floor Area: 113.41 m²
4th Floor Area: 106.67 m²
Main Structure: Reinforced Concrete
Design Period: 2011.7-2012.6
Construction Period: 2012.7-2013.2

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by Ryo Matsui Architects appeared first on Dezeen.

Japanese firm atelier HAKO architects used concrete dotted with formwork impressions for both the internal and external surfaces of these stacked residences in a suburb of Tokyo (+ slideshow).

Atelier HAKO architects formed two houses in one building along a narrow plot in Minamikarasuyama, west of Tokyo city centre.

The circular indentations made by the panels used to form the concrete create a pattern of dots across the exterior, which continues around the walls through the rooms of the two homes.

Both houses are entered from the front drive. The door to the ground-floor home is positioned beneath a two-storey volume cantilevered above.

This apartment contains one bedroom, one bathroom and an open-plan living area, where the kitchen is concealed behind white walls.

The larger dwelling above features a double-height living space at the back of the property.

Floating treads of a minimal staircase lead up to a landing, from which a small terrace encased in glass can be accessed.

“The terrace covered with glass was suspended in a void as an element to incorporate natural light above the living area on the upper floor,” said the architects.

Two bedrooms are housed within the cantilevered section of the building, one on each floor.

Another two bedrooms are also located on this floor, each with storage spaces tucked in the angled section of roof above.

The largest windows are located at the front and back of the plot, covered with louvered screens for privacy.

Keep reading for the information from the architects:

House at Minamikarasuyama

The house sits on a narrow and long site, while facing a small vacant lot beyond the road to the front east side, and facing a pedestrian path to the back west side.

On the south long side, buildings like apartments might be built and might cause the lack of the privacy and the natural light of the house in the future, in spite of the good condition the metered parking offers now.

The dwelling units of two generations having the entrances each separate on the ground floor were stacked in the vertical, and the family living areas were placed the west side of the each house facing the tree of the pedestrian path.

One the front road side, a certain distance for a buffer to the passer and neighbours was kept by providing the open space that has full width of the site under the cantilever building.

In order to be able to live comfortably without being affected by the change of the neighbour’s situation, main openings were set up in the east and west side in the direction of the long axis of the house, and the terrace covered with glass was suspended in void as an element to incorporate natural light above living area on the upper floor.

The distribution of the brightness and the silhouette of the light shine in the interior space are changing variously throughout the year and the day every moment, in response to the angle of the natural light.

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holes by atelier HAKO architects appeared first on Dezeen.

Architects Takero Shimazaki and Charlie Luxton have renovated a 1960s house outside London to create a modern home that features black-painted brickwork, large windows and a new angular roof (photographs by Edmund Sumner + slideshow).

Now named Aperture in the Woods, the old house had been vacant for three years and was desperately in need of repairs, but Shimazaki and Luxton chose to retain and modernise as much as possible of the houses’s original structure to preserve its simple character.

“Whilst the existing house was not a building of significant design importance, we felt there was a spirit there worth preserving and enhancing, being that of post-war British modernism,” they said.

New brickwork was added and the whole house was then painted black to hide the junctions between new and old.

“It was clear that no matter how carefully we tried to match the brick a homogenous finish would not be achieved,” said the architects. “Black was chosen to make the house recede into the shadows created by the surrounding woodlands.”

The architects increased the angle of the roof to heighten the ceiling in the open-plan living room and create a row of clerestory windows.

More new windows frame vistas of a nearby church, but also offer residents views of a wildflower garden planted between the house and the forest.

“Without any curtains or blinds, the house is a transparent black viewing box, its external walls reflecting or absorbing the surrounding nature throughout the season,” added the architects.

A glazed lobby provides a new entrance to the house. Inside, walls are painted white and are complemented by oak joinery and wooden floors.

Bedrooms sit on the opposite side of the house to the living areas, while a small office is tucked away at the back.

Photography is by Edmund Sumner.

Here’s a description from the architects:

Aperture in the Woods, High Bois Lane, Buckinghamshire

A conversion of a derelict 1960s modernist house in the outskirts of Amersham, Buckinghamshire, the house has multiple aspects and is sited next to a local Church and surrounded by the Buckingham woodland.

Reflecting the economic downturn post 2008 and with a limited project budget, the design developed out of the architectural language of the original house; the owners and the architects working as much as possible to maximise the existing structure.

Most of the original brickwork was retained and added to. It was clear that no matter how carefully we tried to match the brick a homogenous finish would not be achieved. It was decided to paint the brick and the black was chosen to make the house recede into the shadows created by the surrounding woodlands. One half of the roof was raised to create a taller, sharper, pitch to the living room. Bedrooms were placed in the other half, retained at its original pitch, with an additional volume projecting into the garden to create a larger master bedroom. A new glass entrance lobby has also been added to open up the front of the house.

The family recently relocated from London to enjoy life within the Buckingham woods. The house is Phase 1 of 3 phases that will include additional spaces for quieter activities such as a study/guest house (Phase 2) and a green house (Phase 3).

Views of the house’s woodland surroundings were made through careful amendments to the existing openings, with additional apertures focusing on specific viewpoints including the church, immediate and distant woods and the newly planted wild flower garden to the front of the house.

Without any curtains or blinds, the house is a transparent black viewing box, its external walls reflecting or absorbing the surrounding nature throughout the season. The interior is realised in a light grey tone with all joinery including windows and doors in oak. The contrast of dark and light makes this building highly ephemeral and reflects the family’s aspirations for more dynamic living. The house is often used as a shelter for music events (with all the doors and windows open!), gatherings for local families and children as well as a quiet retreat for the family.

The project is a collaboration between Takero Shimazaki Architecture (t-sa) and Charlie Luxton.

Client: Jonathan and Ana Maria Harbottle
Architect: Takero Shimazaki Architecture (t-sa) and Charlie Luxton
Design Team: Jennifer Frewen, Charlie Luxton, Takero Shimazaki, Meiri Shinohara
Structural Engineer: milk structures
Approved Inspector: STMC Building Control
Main Contractor: Silver Square Construction Solutions Ltd
Single ply roof: Bauder

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Takero Shimazaki and Charlie Luxton appeared first on Dezeen.

A house modelled on the form of an explosion by Portuguese artist and architect Didier Faustino looks set to become the next completed residence in the series of Spanish dream houses for French developer Christian Bourdais.

Casa Faustino is scheduled to be the next project to begin construction in Spain’s Matarraña region as part of the series of Solo Houses, an initiative to construct 12 architect-designed holiday homes that are free from any constraints besides budget.

Didier Faustino and his architecture studio Mésarchitectures have designed a residence made up of rectilinear volumes that project outward in different directions to create a variety of apertures, framing views of the surrounding landscape and sky.

Floors inside the structure will be arranged as staggered platforms, which the design team hopes will encourage residents to “experience space in new ways, from infinitely large to infinitely small”.

“Similarly to the centre of the ‘Big Bang’ the house appears to draw in as well as reflect the light at its core,” said the designers. “The floors cause the body to feel weightless due to a lack of traditional spatial references.”

A swimming pool will be located on the lowest level of the building and will extend out beyond the walls.

So far only one house has been completed in the Solo Houses series – the symmetrical concrete Casa Pezo by Chilean studio Pezo Von Ellrichshausen. A total of 12 are proposed and include designs by Sou Fujimoto, Johnston Marklee and Takei Nabeshima.

Here are a few more details from Mésarchitectures:

Casa Faustino

At the Centre of Infinity nestling in the telluric mountain scenery, this ultimate shelter lies before us like the promise of a new world. Protecting from the natural elements but inspired by the surrounding nature, this carapace capaciously opens out to frame the many perspectives of the landscape resulting in a better understanding of its diverse nature.

Similarly to the centre of the “Big Bang” the house appears to draw in as well as reflect the light at its core. The floors cause the body to feel weightless due to a lack of traditional spatial references (top and bottom, right and left).

As if from elsewhere, the house invites its occupants to experience space in new ways, from infinitely large to infinitely small.

Location: Poligono 12, parcella N°141, Cretas, Matarraña, Espagne
Area: 3,48 Hectares
Architects: Didier Fuiza Faustino & Bureau des Mésarchitectures
Collaborators: Tony Matias, Pascal Mazoyer, Maÿlis Puyfaucher.

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to be next in series of dream houses appeared first on Dezeen.

A rock garden filled with trees and shrubs is sandwiched between glazed rooms and floating windowless walls at this house in Japan by mA-style Architects (+ slideshow).

Japanese studio mA-style Architects designed the house for a residential site in Fujieda, Sizuoka Prefecture. The architects felt that residents would be better off without a view of their surroundings, so they designed an insular house with a private garden.

Named Green Edge House, the residence is surrounded on all sides by the narrow garden and glazed walls to allow residents to open every room out to the greenery.

“At first we imagined a house with an inner courtyard. However, indoor privacy is not kept in the architecture around the courtyard,” explained architects Atushi and Mayumi Kawamoto.

“The transparency of the glass weakens consciousness of a partition between inside and outside. Then the green edge becomes a vague domain without a border,” they added.

A blank white wall encases the house and garden, but hovers 65 millimetres above the floor so that daylight can filter into the house without compromising residents’ privacy.

As they chose not to add a courtyard, the architects positioned the living room and kitchen at the centre of the house, with a bedroom and entrance on one side, and a Japanese room and bathroom on the other.

The toilet and washbasin sit beyond the perimeter of the other rooms, so residents have to venture into the garden to use them.

Atushi and Mayumi Kawamoto founded mA-style Architects in 2004. Other projects by the duo include a house where rooms are contained inside two-storey boxes and a residence that points outwards like a giant rectangular telescope.

Photography is by Makoto Yasuda, Nacasa & Partners.

Here’s a longer description from mA-style Architects:

Ryokuen no Su (Green Edge House)

Design Plan

There was the building site on a gently sloping hill. It is land for sale by the lot made by recent land adjustment here. The land carries the mountains on its back in the north side and has the rich scenery which can overlook city in the south side. However, it was hard to feel the characteristic of the land because it was a residential area lined with houses here. Consideration to the privacy for the neighbourhood was necessary in a design here because it was a residential area.

Therefore at first we imagined a house with an inner court having a courtyard. However, indoor privacy is not kept in the architecture around the courtyard. In addition, light and the air are hard to circulate, too. Therefore we wanted to make a house with an inner court having a vague partition.

At first we float an outer wall of 2,435mm in height 800mm by Chianti lever from the ground. We make a floating wall by doing it this way. While a floating wall of this simple structure disturbs the eyes from the neighbourhood, we take in light and air. A green edge is completed when we place trees and a plant along this floating wall. That’s why we called the house “Green Edge”. The green edge that was a borderland kept it intact and located a living room or a bedroom, the place equipped with a water supply for couples in the centre of the court. Then a green edge comes to snuggle up when in the indoor space even if wherever. In addition, we planned it so that nature could affect it with a person equally by assuming it a one-story house.

A green edge and the floating wall surrounded the house, but considered it to connect space while showing an internal and external border by using the clear glass for materials. The transparency of the glass weakens consciousness of a partition between inside and outside. Then the green edge becomes a vague domain without a border. The vagueness brings a feeling of opening in the space. In addition, the floating obstacle that made the standard of a body and the life function in a standard succeeds for the operation of the eyes of people.

It is like opening, and a green edge and the floating wall produce space with the transparency while being surrounded. The space changes the quality with the four seasons, too. This house where the change of the four seasons was felt with a body became the new house with an inner court which expressed the non-functional richness.

The Green Edge House does not change the inside and outside definitely.

There is the approach in migratory of green edge and the floating wall. The green edge along the floating wall is the grey area that operated space and a function from a human physical standard and the standard of the life function. We arrange the opening to a physical standard. Act in itself to pass through the floating wall becomes the positioning of the approach as psychological recognition.

In the Green Edge House, various standards make mutual relations each and operate space. For example, as the human physical dimension, standing is 1500-1800mm, and sitting is 820-990mm. On the other hand, as the human working dimension, 750-850mm on the desk, and 730-750mm in the washstand are normally scale. From the module that such a human physical standard and the standard of the life function, floating wall was set with 650mm from the floor, 800mm from the ground.

By doing so, we created the domains where the eyes of the people does not cross of inside and outside. It leads to a feeling of opening for the living people. The floating wall shows an internal and external border. On the other hand, transparency of the glass weakens internal and external difference. With the operation of the standard, and it raises excursion characteristics not to toe the mark.

The Green Edge House is the house which was rich in the variety that balance of the space was planned by a building and a physical standard.

Location: Fujieda – City Sizuoka Japan
Date of Completion: December　2012
Principal Use: House
Structure: steel construction

Site Area: 200.90m2
Total Floor Area: 73.01 m2
Structural Engineer: Nakayama Kashiro
Exterior Finish: Fibre reinforced plastic waterproofing
Floor: Birch wood flooring
Wall: cloth
Ceiling: cloth

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has a hidden garden around its perimeter appeared first on Dezeen.