House in Matsubara / Ken’ichi Otani Architects

Apr 2010

Uploaded by Nico Saieh — Filed under: Houses ,Selected , Japan, Ken'ichi Otani Architects

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Architect: Ken’ichi Otani / Ken’ichi Otani Architects
Location: Setagaya, Tokyo, Japan
Structure Engineer: Yukihiro Kato / MID
Structure: Timber construction
Site area: 70.00 sqm
Built area: 39.84 sqm
Total floor area: 95.64 sqm
Project Year: 2006-2007
Photographs: Koichi Torimura

The design project, a small residence for a young couple, is located in a dense residential area in the suburbs of Tokyo where exterior wall of houses and fence are constructed along their lot boundary rejecting humane communication between the houses and the street. It should be noted that an empty land before a house and exterior walls are built could share common and flowing space with surrounding environment. This is an experimental project to design a house taking in the atmosphere of surrounding environment, especially front streets, to the building site and creating a new environment by adding a house on the site. At the same time, the house interior was designed under the constraints of a small building lot in the suburban environment and a small volume defined by the exterior façade.

site plan

The house has two angled façades to the street; the east external wall is slightly inclined inside to simulate a towering crag.

An open garage faces to the street, and a two-story small front yard is placed behind the garage a narrow opening. The front yard, surrounded on three sides and open on one side, leads to the entrance. The front yard works as a buffer zone between the outside street and inside private residence. Through the front yard, interior and exterior spaces come into view alternately; when one looks down from the second floor through the yard, he experiences the interior and exterior views alternately. As a result, one’s sense of distance varies from the actual distance and becomes much longer.

There is no a specific space in the building, but four layers of different characters, such as space like an alley, space like a curved cave which can’t be seen through, spacious room with high ceiling, and a place like deck float to view silhouettes of high-rise buildings. At the same time, set-backed inclined external volume forms two small places to interact with the street. The slight inclination of the east wall and the deformed floor plan distort one’s perspective and refuse one to grasp the volume correct. This illusion causes spatial perception to swing, and changes the perception of vertical and the horizontal dimensions. The perception of the space varies depending of one’s standing.

By continuing and layering spaces of different characteristics in the building, one experiences physical and psychological sense of distance. The gap in experiencing different spaces with time can expand the frame of limited spaces.

: © Koichi Torimura

: © Koichi Torimura

: © Koichi Torimura

: © Koichi Torimura

: © Koichi Torimura

: © Koichi Torimura

: © Koichi Torimura

: © Koichi Torimura

: © Koichi Torimura

: © Koichi Torimura

: © Koichi Torimura

: © Koichi Torimura

: © Koichi Torimura

: © Koichi Torimura

: © Koichi Torimura

: © Koichi Torimura

: © Koichi Torimura

: © Koichi Torimura

: site plan

: first floor plan

: second floor plan

: third floor plan

: roof plan

: section 01

: section 02

* Location to be used only as a reference. It could indicate city/country but not exact address.

Cite:
Saieh , Nico . "House in Matsubara / Ken’ichi Otani Architects" 01 Apr 2010. ArchDaily. Accessed 09 Feb 2012. <http://www.archdaily.com/54596>

Comments (8)
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Links to this entry (1)

Doug says:

Another concrete, white walled, empty building…. what’s the deal. Ick.

# April 1, 2010 at 17:06

PatrickLBC says:

Doug… I can’t speak for this architect, but personally I find this style very appealing. It is like providing a white canvas for the residents to paint their lives on. With all the angles and unique spaces, this interior could have easily become overwhelming. By restraining the palette of colors and materials, the space is more serene and able to adapt to the tastes of whomever may live there.

Having said that, I wish they would have photographed the spaces after occupancy. These do look rather lifeless.

# April 2, 2010 at 15:19

up_today_arch says:

but it is a new trend… it is up to date! Few years ago you are was not too mach bored, when one moore brick house with red tiled roof rised in your neighborhood? All of us, me and other architects, who loves modern architecture, we building exectly what we love!

# April 2, 2010 at 01:11

squidly says:

The house in not concrete. It’s wood framed. The workmanship is incredible, especially on the stair, which i assume is steel.

# April 2, 2010 at 08:58

abe says:

Boring architecture.

# April 2, 2010 at 19:06

claudem says:

might as well share lunch with the neighbours! desiger forgot they have them….and overlooking too! fine!
can just hear them say ‘bless u’ every time they sneeze and smell every time they….bloops!

# April 3, 2010 at 08:40