T house / Sou Fujimoto

Architects: Sou Fujimoto Architects
Location: Gunma, Japan
Principal Use: Residence
Project Year: 2005
Structure material: Wood
Site Area: 144.47 sqm
Constructed Area: 90.82 sqm
Photographer: Daici Ano & Sou Fujimoto

Intoned Open-Plan : Architecture of “Distance”

Site is within a calm residential suburb in Maebashi, Gunma, JAPAN. Being a housing for a family of four, this is also a place to display contemporary artworks, clients collection.

Basically it is a one-room house. Though the plan is quite unique, being radially intonated, or bent, at several points. From the bent point are walls stretched towards the center of the architecture. Each spaces created between these walls have, thus, different depths and different extent of relation to other spaces. A wide range of diverse qualities of the spaces, such as composure, privacy and so on, are obtained.

Convoluted Cavern, Drawn with One Stroke

This house could be described as a primitive housing.

Tracing its history, creating architecture is none other than producing various disntance. For instance, a private room is a situation where the distance is long or solid, to be separated. On the contrary, being distant yet connected generates the expanse of a space. What we suggest here is, a new but primitive, simple architecture, which embraces diverse feeling of distance within its intoned shape.

Garden of Relationship

The house might be similar to alleys and Japanese garden. That is, steppingstones are usually placed at those alleyways, and the scenery keeps changing while one stepping across by the stones. Each one step renews relationship of things around. Wandering the garden and alleys, stopping here and there- experience there has a lot in common with those that can be gained in the house.