The client chose the sloped site surrounded by Japanese larch trees and located in a mountainous region, an hour away from Tokyo on a bullet train, as their ideal location for their home where they can retreat from their busy work in the city. The house sits on an artificially leveled area of the site created thirty years ago and left unused. Since the client wanted a house seamlessly blend into the natural surrounding, topography and local culture, we designed this house as a collection of small mountain cottages. It consists of five single pitched roof cottages that are clad in the local larch wood siding. Rather than using a complex construction technology, it is built in a traditional Japanese wood construction method so that local builders can skillfully craft each structural wood member. Each cottage varies in size to fit its function and set on site at 30 degree increments to best fit the topography and to face unique views. All cottage roofs have varying slopes and overhangs that touch the overhangs of adjacent cottages, creating gap spaces between these cottages, a simulacrum of alleys in a city. The triangular “connecting” roofs span between these overhangs to capture these gap spaces as a single fluid public interior space, which serves as a living room or a circulation space and feels like being outside looking at mountains in the distance. Since these connecting roofs bend & fold to connect the cottages at multiple angles & heights, the in-between space result in a spatial & structural warpage. The design intent of this house is not the final architectural form, but rather, establishing a set of design rules of cottage placements and connections, which allows the house to be freely arranged to satisfy any requirements and adoptable to any future changes or additions, prolonging its building life.
Project Spotlight
Product Spotlight
News
Barrisol Light brings the outdoors inside at Mr Green’s Office
French ceiling manufacturer Barrisol - Normalu SAS was included in Archello’s list of 25 best... More
Peter Pichler, Rosalba Rojas Chávez, Lourenço Gimenes and Raissa Furlan join Archello Awards 2024 jury
Peter Pichler, Rosalba Rojas Chávez, Lourenço Gimenes and Raissa Furlan have been anno... More
25 best decorative glass manufacturers
By incorporating decorative glass in projects, such as stained or textured glass windows, frosted gl... More
Introducing Partner Geopietra
Geopietra® is an international brand and an Italian company founded in 1996, specialized in the... More
Shigeru Ban’s Paper Log House at Philip Johnson’s Glass House
In New Canaan, Connecticut, Shigeru Ban: The Paper Log House has opened as part of the 75th annivers... More
10 commercial buildings that benefit from planted facades
The integration of nature into architecture marks a proactive urban response to the climate emergenc... More
Hudson Valley Residence by HGX Design draws inspiration from local agricultural vernacular
New York City-based creative studio HGX Design has completed the Hudson Valley Residence, a modern,... More
Key projects by Perkins&Will
Perkins&Will, a global interdisciplinary design practice, places architecture at its core. With... More