Text description provided by the architects. How might these units accommodating 110 entirely different families be conceived as a community? Riken Yamamoto gave that question a great deal of thought. The result was this arrangement of buildings organized around a central space. It was based on the idea of threshold. The open space in the center of the site cannot be accessed except through the units. The units serve as gates to the central open space.
Text description provided by the architects. Gazebo is my own house in Yokohama. I always wake up around 6:30 in the morning. I feed the goldfish and clean the cat litter box. I make juice with apples, oranges and cabbage. I can see the rooftop of the house across the alley when I feed the goldfish because the goldfish bowl is on the fourth-floor terrace
Text description provided by the architects. The original clients, Mr. and Mrs. Ishii, he was a sculptor and she was a painter. This was to be used as an atelier. They wanted to invite people over from time to time for concerts. They were acquaintances (or should I call them comrades) from the days of student protests.
Text description provided by the architects. After making a few basic requests, Mr. Yamakawa had very little to say. He wanted a spacious terrace--a place that was like a living room where he could also take his meals and relax the whole day long. The villa would be used mainly as a summer retreat; it would not be used in winter.
A collage of materials amongst the trunks of countless birch trees in the Finnish landscape, the Villa Mairea built by Alvar Aalto in 1939 is a significant dwelling that marks a transition from traditional to modern architecture. Built as a guest house and rural retreat for Harry and Maire Gullichsen, Aalto was given permission to experiment with his thoughts and styles, which becomes clear when studying the strangely cohesive residence.
