Location of the project is a residential area which is everywhere in Japan. This area was a forest in the past but it was developed into residential area. In this area that became the deserted scenery about ten several years passed, rebuilding is performed in recent years. I regarded this situation as a good opportunity and suggested the way of the residential area for the future.
Garden as the Scenery of a residential area
There is the site in the corner lot. And it faces two roads. Therefore I located a house in the depths of the site and made buffer space between the house and streets. Furthermore, I did not make the fence at border line of lot and planting trees on the whole site and opened the garden for streets.In the garden design, in order to close to the scenery of the forest before the residential land development, I used river stones and wild cherry blossoms which it was on the mountain just before construction. This project made scenery which a forest come back. Because of site planning andgarden design born margin space for the residential area and make expansive street.
Characteristic of the site
I had a good view of the sky over neighboring houses because the premise was a corner lot as well as a gentle slope toward south. The premise wasalso receiving sunlight all day. This is a fortunate condition rarely found in residential areas, and I thought that the broad view toward the sky andthe sense of transition of the sun along the road of natural light will be a key to build a house here.
The plan is a polygon for two reasons. The first reason is that various elements ( family garden and small private garden and laundry garden and approach and parking ) required for the premise are gently separated by the house. The second reason is that transition of the sun is reflected inthe room multilaterally. The number of sides is six, which was decided according to the uses required for the garden and the study of each interiorroom. The outer shape of the hexagon has the same shapes with nesting structures, and the periphery is surrounded by a water section and a bedroom, and a family space is located in the center. The traffic line expands into every room through the family space in the center.
I proposed a plan that we space the roof from the exterior wall to take in the view of the sky and natural light from the whole circumference of thehouse.
A light reservoir made of wooden vertical lattice has been planning as a medium that reflects the transition of natural light. Also, the delicate transition of the sun reflected on the wooden vertical lattice let inhabitants feel the riches and flux of time, and stirs their Japanese sensitivities. The light reservoir coloring the time gently separates the whole space as well as functions as a connection between the insides and outsides of the nested spaces.
Project detail informationProject name: KORO HOUSELocation: Toyota Aichi JapanSite Area: 225.48m2Built Area: 68.71m2Total Floor Area: 107.34m2Type of Construction: WoodenExterior Materials: wooden boards + oil paint finishInterior Materials: paint finishDesign time：November, 2012 - July, 2013Year of completion ：March, 2014Design team: Katsutoshi Sasaki + AssociatesStructure company / Tatsumi Terado Structural StudioGarden design / GARDEN WORKS ENZOConstruction company / Inoue construction Co.,Ltd.Photo / Katsutoshi Sasaki + Associates
