![Garden Tree House / Hironaka Ogawa & Associates - Windows, Wood, Beam, Column](https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/512d/191d/b3fc/4b00/6d00/000b/medium_jpg/umge_022.jpg?1413926005)
![Garden Tree House / Hironaka Ogawa & Associates - Windows, Wood, Beam, Column](https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/512d/191d/b3fc/4b00/6d00/000b/medium_jpg/umge_022.jpg?1413926005)
Text description provided by the architects. This is an extension project on a thirty-five year-old house for a daughter and her husband.
Azelkova tree and a Camphor tree stood on the site since the time the main house was build thirty-five years ago. Removing these trees was one of the design requirements because the new additional building could not be built if these trees remained. When I received the offer for the project, I thought of various designs before I visited the site for the first time. However, all my thoughts were blown away as soon as I saw the site in person.
![Garden Tree House / Hironaka Ogawa & Associates - Door, Facade](https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/512d/188f/b3fc/4b81/4d00/0003/newsletter/umge_005.jpg?1413926046)
The two trees stood there quite strongly. I listen to the stories in detail; the daughter has memories of climbing these trees when she was little.
These trees looked over the family for thirty-five years. They colored the gardenand grew up with the family. Therefore, utilizing these trees and creating a new place for the client became the main theme for the design.
![Garden Tree House / Hironaka Ogawa & Associates - Image 11 of 21](https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/512d/1994/b3fc/4b00/6d00/0012/medium_jpg/umge_036.jpg?1413926072)
In detail, I cut thetwo trees with their branches intact. Then I reduced the water content by smoking and drying them for two weeks. Thereafter, I placed the trees where they used to stand and used them as main structural columns in the center of the living room, dining room, and kitchen.
![Garden Tree House / Hironaka Ogawa & Associates - Windows, Beam, Column](https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/512d/194c/b3fc/4bf0/f000/000d/medium_jpg/umge_027.jpg?1413926104)
In order to mimic the way the trees used to stand, I sunk the building addition 70 centimeters down in the ground. I kept the height of the addition lower than the main house while still maintaining 4 meter ceiling height.
![Garden Tree House / Hironaka Ogawa & Associates - Windows, Sink, Bathroom](https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/512d/18c0/b3fc/4bf0/f000/0005/medium_jpg/umge_014.jpg?1413926053)
By the way, the smoking and drying process was done at a kiln within Kagawa prefecture. These two trees returned to the site without ever leaving the prefecture.
The client asked a Shinto priest at the nearby shrine to remove evil when the trees were cut. Nobody would go that far without a love and attachment to these trees.
![Garden Tree House / Hironaka Ogawa & Associates - Table, Chair, Windows, Beam](https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/512d/190a/b3fc/4b81/4d00/0008/medium_jpg/umge_019.jpg?1413926091)
When this house is demolished and another new building constructed by a descendant of the client hundreds of years from now, surely these two trees will be reused in some kind of form.
![Garden Tree House / Hironaka Ogawa & Associates - Image 17 of 21](https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/512d/1a0e/b3fc/4bd4/6200/001b/medium_jpg/isometric.jpg?1492475124)