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Architects: Ikeda Yukie Ono Toshiharu Architects
- Area: 96 m²
- Year: 2016
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Photographs:Koichi Torimura
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Manufacturers: NISC, Nuprotec, Saikai Sangyo
Text description provided by the architects. MU consists of a dwelling for a couple combined with a photo studio in the small northern city, Hachinohe, Aomori. People often gathered at the existing studio as if it were a meeting place of the town, and we aimed to maintain that atmosphere while considering the couple's privacy.
Taking the hard climate into account, we looked for openness, not only by physical transparency.
In accordance with the low-rise residential neighborhood, the volume is formed into a deconstructed quadrangular pyramid with a low façade facing the street and rising back up towards the North. Inside the pyramid, the privacy-cores are piled in tiers, while the surrounding spaces are open.
The mountain-like presence of the form invites people, while the large open space enclosed by powerful frame structures is receptive to both privacy and publicity. A privacy-core opens with sliding doors, which enables efficient use in the flexibility to adjust the area of private and public.
With this system, the dwelling can open a lot of the space to the public, and by that the dwellers in this shrinking city can gain social capital through rich relations.
