Some of the concrete walls of this house in Yokohama, Japan, by Tai and Associates were formed against wooden planks, while some have been rendered white and others have been left plain (+ slideshow).
Japanese studio Tai and Associates designed the two-storey House in Shinoharadai for a hillside corner plot already owned by the family, creating separate floors for different generations and a small home office.
“A new program composed of a two-family residence and office is applied to the building, while paying attention to preserve the family’s history and memories attached to the land,” said the architects. Continue Reading…
This timber house in Kanagawa by Japanese architect Shigeru Ban has a square plan with a teardrop-shaped courtyard at its centre (+ slideshow).
Shigeru Ban planned the single-storey Villa at Sengokubara with a radial arrangement, creating a sequence of rooms that each face inwards towards the central courtyard.
The roof of the house angles gently inward, creating a canopy around the perimeter of the courtyard, and it varies in height to create lower ceilings at the building’s entrance.
Timber columns and roof joists are exposed inside the building, and line the ceilings and rear walls of every room.
Spaced wooden slats form partitions and doorways between some rooms, allowing views between spaces.
A wooden staircase leads to a mezzanine level beneath the highest section of the room, which looks out over the main living and dining room.
Two study rooms are tucked away behind, while the kitchen and main bedrooms are positioned just beyond.
A sheltered terrace separates this side of the house from a guest suite containing two bedrooms and a bathroom.
Here’s a short description from the architects:
Sengokubara S Residence
The 2‐storey wood structure residence is situated on a flag pole shaped site, 30m square in plan with a 15m diameter interior courtyard.
With the main living room centred on the interior courtyard, all spaces are arranged in a radial manner from the entrance.
The eight sliding doors separating the main living room and interior courtyard can be opened at any time so that the space can be used as one.
The structure is made up of wooden columns and beams, which are 75mm x 350mm L‐shaped pieces, also arranged in a radial manner, creating a large one way sloped roof.
The large roof varies in height, achieving ceiling heights between 2.4m to 7.5m.
Location: Hakone, Kanagawa, Japan Architects: Shigeru Ban Architects Project Team: Shigeru Ban, Nobutaka Hiraga, Wataru Sakaki, Jun Matsumori Structural engineers: Hoshino Structural Engineering General contractors Hakone Construction Principal use: residence Site area: 1770.00m2 Building area: 576.89m2 Total floor area: 452.60m2 Structure: timber Number of storeys: 2
Architect Shigeru Ban has constructed another building using cardboard tubes – this time a cabin for hikers in a Japanese national park.
Located off the southern coast of Japan on Yakushima Island, Yakushima Takatsuka Lodge sits on a steep woodland slope within the Kirishima-Yaku National Park.
Like many of Shigeru Ban’s buildings, the walls of the hut are made from rolls of recycled paper that have been reinforced with glue. The tubes slot into the gaps between the wooden framework, creating a weather-resistant facade that will be easy to repair.
“Paper tubes can be easily replaced if damaged overtime within the harsh environment of the mountains,” say the designers.
The cabin sits over the foundations of a demolished older structure and it offers a two-storey hideaway that can be used by anyone trekking through the park.
Light filters through the walls via gaps between the tubes, while a wooden door slides open to provide access and a first-floor mezzanine leads out to a small balcony. A sharply inclined roof helps to drain rainwater.
Table legs extend up to look like tree trunks and branches at this cafe in Tokyo by Japanese studio id (+ slideshow).
The interior, graphics and products were designed by id for the Ki cafe, named after the Japanese word for tree.
The monochrome space features black steel poles that resemble the shapes of bare trees.
The poles form the legs of the tables, which sit on a wooden floor.
Hats and coats can be hung from the branch-like hooks.
Small plates of sugar in the shape of transparent leaves sit on the surfaces.
The bricks of the facade are painted white, while a black graphic showing the cafe name is printed onto the large windows.
Here is more information from the designers:
Cafe Ki opened in Setagaya-ku, Tokyo in Japan, designed by Japanese design office id. Ki means a tree in Japanese. It is a cafe where coffee and pastries can be enjoyed in a space like a yard or a forest.
The pure white space enhances the coffee colored trees. The “tree” standing inside the café takes a role as a table leg made of steel. Hats and coats can be hung on the highly extended table legs.
Although a large number of people can sit around the big table, it can maintain a sense of comfortable distance while sharing the table with a different group since wooden branches help to divide the space on the table.
Moreover, the leg of the table randomly stands and those who sit down can freely choose a place where to sit. The grove where trees are randomly standing brings a deeper impression from front to back than actually it is.
Japanese design office id designed for Café Ki not only the interior but also, the graphics, uniform, website and original products.
Treatment rooms sit within a translucent house-shaped enclosure at this dental clinic in Kobe, Japan, by Tato Architects (+ slideshow).
Japanese studio Tato Architects started the renovation by stripping the interior back to the concrete and painting it white, before adding the translucent central volume to accommodate three separate treatment areas.
Wooden screens partition the central space. The walls comprise a film-coated glass, while the ceiling is made from sheets of translucent polycarbonate.
Architect Yo Shimada says the softened lighting of the space help patients to feel more comfortable: “We aimed to produce an space which is clean and peaceful at the same time by controlling the state of light.”
“The translucent material was chosen for lighting the consultation rooms only by the light transmitted through, so that light sources would not offend the eye of the patient in the tilted dental chair,” he added.
A waiting room and reception are positioned at the front of the clinic and furnished with square stools, wooden bookshelves and potted plants.
Bare light bulbs hang down from the ceiling, while a children’s playroom faces out to the street.
A dental laboratory, X-ray facility and sterilising rooms are tucked away at the back.
The interior of the room was of rather coarse RC and in skeleton state. We painted the interior white and inserted a house type of translucent material to get the ceiling as high as possible without a touch on RC beams. This resulted in getting calm, peaceful consultation rooms.
The translucent material was chosen for lighting the consultation rooms only by the light transmitted through so that light sources may not offend the eye of the patient in the tilted dental chair.
A medical facility tends to become functional, cold space after all due to the indispensable requirement such as contamination-proof. I am of the opinion that we can produce an space which is clean and peaceful at the same time by controlling the state of light.
Japanese studio Tato Architects references the ad-hoc extensions of neighbouring buildings with the steel, concrete and wooden volumes that make up this house in Osaka, Japan (+ slideshow).
Located on the hillside of Mount Ikoma, House in Ishikiri is a three-storey family home and was designed by Tato Architects as a composition of three separate blocks.
From the rear, the house comprises a glazed ground-floor storey with a gabled upper floor floating above, while the street facade reveals an extra storey and garage tucked underneath.
“We observed favourably the mosaic pattern of old and rebuilt houses telling each history of over 80 years,” said architect Yo Shimada, explaining how he approached the design as a collection of connected elements.
“We proceeded with the design by making the places step by step, searching for an appropriate way of building the house that adapts to surrounding environments,” he added.
A steel-plated box forms part of the lower ground floor, and contains a storage space and small toilet. A steel framework extends across it, creating space for the adjacent garage.
A split-level living and dining room occupies a double-height space on the middle floor and features sliding doors that open the space out to a wooden roof terrace.
A children’s bedroom is also situated on this floor. Positioned on top of the steel box, it comes with a row of windows around its base.
A staircase cantilevered from the dining room’s concrete wall leads up to a master bedroom and balcony on the top floor.
The kitchen is positioned at the opposite end of the house, overlooking a rear garden. A guest room above can be accessed by climbing a wooden ladder that extends up through a hole in the ceiling.
Dark concrete walls and a black house form volume above it, a translucent lean-to roof, a white high flat roof and a silver box under it. Those totally different and inconsistent materials and colours are combined to form this house.
The site is in a residential area developed around 1930, sloping to the west on a hillside of Mt. Ikoma, which overlooks the urban area of Osaka Plain. We observed favourably the mosaic pattern of old and rebuilt houses telling each history of over eighty years.
It was not easy to find out the way for making the house coordinated to the surroundings as the site is 3.5m up from the road so that the house would look larger than the actual size. We proceeded with the design by making places step by step searching an appropriate way of building the house that adapt to surrounding environments.
First, we made concrete walls with rough texture by using formwork made by small split lauan to match with old masonry walls and concrete-block walls in surrounding environments, and covered those with a black house form structure following the roof form of houses in the neighbourhood. After that, living space is made in the way as renovating interior space. The space for facilities to support the daily life such as a kitchen and a bathroom is made in between the concrete walls and the cliff-retaining wall behind the house, covered with a translucent lean-to roof and wooden windows and doors.
On the road side, a thin, modern flat-roof, which represents a new life style and cars covers the box made of steel plates commonly used for temporary enclosure at construction sites in Japan, pretending the atmosphere of ongoing construction sites.
These resulted in making places that are related to both ‘before’ and ‘after’. Living places are provided in space where different time-axes meet as ‘concrete walls’ and ‘a black house-type,’ ‘concrete walls’ and ‘a retaining wall,’ and ‘a white flat-roof’ and ‘boxes of steel plates.’
Rethinking the whole residential are from the way that this house exists would suggests us to rediscover potentials and richness of all elements and space among those with different histories in the area.
Project name: House in Ishikiri Location of site: Osaka, Japan Site area: 233.32m2 Building area: 61.37m2 Total floor area: 99.38m2 Type of Construction: Steel Program: house Project by: Tato Architects Principal designer:Yo Shimada Design period: March 2010 – April 2012 Construction period: July 2012 – January 2013
Japanese architect Kazuyo Sejima has added a circular courtyard and a renovated timber shed to her series of galleries on Inujima island, Japan.
A-Art House
Sejima, the female partner of architecture studio SANAA, has been working on the Inujima Art House Project since 2010, when she and art director Yuko Hasegawa opened three galleries and a small pavilion in the island’s village.
A-Art House
The two new buildings, entitled A-Art House and C-Art House, will join F-Art House, S-Art House and I-Art House to create a series of spaces that can host coinciding exhibitions.
A-Art House
Clusters of artificial flower petals decorate the acrylic walls of A-Art House, giving a colourful backdrop with shades of pink, orange and yellow to the open-air courtyard that makes up the space.
A-Art House
Instead of a precise circle, the structure has gently fluted walls that bulge outwards, creating an outline reminiscent of a flower shape. A rectangular opening forms an entrance through one of the walls, while silver stools offer a pair of seats for visitors.
C-Art House
C-Art House, the second of the two galleries, occupies a renovated nineteenth-century timber shed near the coastline.
C-Art House
The structure of this building is revealed inside, where ageing wooden trusses are supported by modern timber columns. Timber panels line the walls, while a panoramic screen provides a surface for film screenings.
C-Art House
To tie in with the opening of the new galleries, all five spaces are presenting a combined exhibition where each space is dedicated to the work of a different artist.
Sou Fujimoto told the Architects’ Journal (£) that the campaign was set up because Zaha Hadid‘s building will be “too big” in relation to its surroundings, which include Kenzo Tange’s iconic 1964 Olympic stadium.
“I hope that this protest is successful in shrinking the design to fit the context,” he told the magazine. “I’m not fighting Zaha. The competition for the stadium was very rigorous and we can’t overturn everything. But the design could be better.”
The symposium, entitled Re-thinking the New National Olympic Stadium in the historical context of Gaien, takes place tomorrow and will be streamed live via the Ustream website. Other architects involved include Hidenobu Jinnai, Taro Igarashi, Shinji Miyadai and Tetsuo Furuichi.
Zaha Hadid won a competition to design the stadium in November 2012, seeing off competition from 10 other finalists including Japanese architects SANAA, Toyo Ito and Azusa Sekkei. The judging panel included Tadao Ando, who commented: “The entry’s dynamic and futuristic design embodies the messages Japan would like to convey to the rest of the world.”
This house in Hyogo, Japan, by local architect Shogo Aratani is made up of overlapping concrete slabs that accommodate an interior of staggered floors and ramped corridors (+ slideshow).
The three-storey house is located at the junction of two roads, one inclining gently upwards and another sloping down, and Shogo Aratani wanted to use these existing levels to generate the floors inside the building.
“We thought that a new development of another level was pointless,” he said. “It was more natural to follow the context.”
The architect designed a split-level floorplate that corresponds with the highest and lowest parts of the road, then incorporated a mediating floor between that matches the level of a neighbouring plot.
“The activities brought out from the characteristics of this site constitute this building, rather than the building determining people’s movements,” added Aratani.
A network of staircases and slopes connects the three ground-floor levels, and also lead up to a pair of bedrooms on the first floor.
Angular concrete forms emphasise the non-linear arrangement, creating sliced window openings through both the walls and rooftops.
The site is located on a corner lot of a fancy residential area on a hill, and faces toward sloped roads on the west and north sides. This residential area was developed about a half century ago. As time has passed, small-scale developments have been undertaken due to dividing and uniting lots.
Just like the other sites, due to an arbitrary assumption of the developer, this site also has a recently built high wall on the west side, as if rejecting an approach to the site. However, construction of an in-ground garage may have been assumed, and there is level land and a slope to connect the 3m height difference on the southwest side. There is also a slope from the road on the north side, and the flat ground is about 1m high. The flat ground was probably set based on the neighbouring lot.
Therefore, this lot has 3 levels due to the relationship between the roads on the west and north sides, and the neighbouring lot. We thought that a new development of another level was pointless. No matter what the situation was, the context of this location included the current situation and it was more natural to follow the context. Three floor levels, adjusted to each height, were individually made. By connecting these, the entire space was constituted.
Based on the required volume, the three areas were partly layered and connected with stairs and slopes from the entrance to the roof. Volume studies were conducted in order to create a form to materialise such activities. The activities brought out from the characteristics of this site constitute this building, rather than the building determining people’s movements. As a result, the building was constituted with three crisscrossed monolithic forms, as if they were responding to the road on the west side that slopes up from south to north.
The west-side volume in the lowest part of the site has an entrance and a guestroom, and the southeast volume in the highest part has private spaces such as a bedroom. The third volume connects them and also has a garage that is accessible from the north side, and a living space that is the centre of living.
Location: Hyogo, Japan Date of Completion: July, 2013 Principal Use: House Structure: Reinforced Concrete Site Area: 359.64m2 Building Area: 166.23m2 Total Floor Area: 202.80m2 (47.61m2/BF, 119.33m2/1F, 35.86m2/2F) Structural Engineer: S3 Associates Inc. Construction: Atelier Eight Co., Ltd.
Swedish studio Claesson Koivisto Rune has fitted out this Japanese showroom selling European ceramics using pale wooden display furniture and potted plants (+ slideshow).
Swedish architects Claesson Koivisto Rune designed the interior for Ceramika’s flagship store in the city of Matsumoto in the mountainous Nagano Prefecture.
The retail space in a former city hall by the river was stripped out and then fitted with neutral painted walls, timber flooring and a range of custom-designed wooden furniture.
“The colours and materials of the interior were chosen to harmonise with the porcelain, which is mostly blue and white,” said the architects.
The showroom is laid out in a simple grid, with display units positioned in rows and shelving on the walls. “The aim was to create a space which was strict yet humble,” the architects explained.
The display tables comprise wooden frames with side panels that can be removed and opened up to provide extra shelving below, and grey curtains can be used to divide the space.
Ceramika ceramic tableware showroom, shop and cafe
The Ceramika showroom is located in Matsumoto in the mountainous Nagano Prefecture, some 200 km northwest of Tokyo. Matsumoto is not a very big city, but it is a centre of traditional crafts, such as wood, lacquerware and fabric. Oddly perhaps then that the cups and plates and bowls at Ceramika are European and not Japanese. But this is what modern Japan is about. Opened up to the world while never deviating from the very strong Japanese heritage of aesthetics and quality.
In line with these principles was the commission to design the Ceramika flagship store given to the Swedish architects Claesson Koivisto Rune – undeniably Scandinavians, but well accustomed to Japan.
Ceramika is represented with shops in every major city throughout Japan and through mail order and online business, but Matsumoto is the home town.
The Ceramika showroom is located in the city centre in a former City Hall building along the Matsumoto river. The space was completely stripped and the new interior is deliberately simple but with meticulously refined details. The layout is on a strict repetitive grid.
The colours and materials of the interior were chosen to harmonise with the porcelain which is mostly blue and white.
The project was a fruitful collaboration between the architect and the client. The client and owner of the Ceramika showroom, Mr. Hiroshi Arai, took a personal pride in attending to the quality and execution of every detail in the project.
The wood furniture was designed by Claesson Koivisto Rune and manufactured by carpenter master Hoshino-san. This made it possible to use smaller proportions and have a much higher degree of refinement, than usually in a project like this.
Many of the pieces in the project was designed especially by Claesson Koivisto Rune and manufactured locally in Japan. Such as the display furniture, tables and clothes hangers. Other pieces also designed by Claesson Koivisto Rune were produced by manufacturers such as Almedahls, David design, Tacchini, and Wästberg.
The aim was to create a space which was strict, yet humble. As an enhancing frame for the ceramic objects at display and a section of illustrated children’s books from around the world!
And – last but not least – the small cafe with both indoors and outdoors seating.
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