This house consists of a garage and two studio-type apartments for rent. Our client asked me to design architecture similar to “Reflection of Mineral” that we completed in 2006. Therefore basic concepts of ‘Mineral’ are taken into consideration. In order to further evolve from our previous design we focus on the following three issues: (1) Form should be carefully considered to protect white walls from dirt from rainwater. (2) Design and detailing of large skylight (3) Selection of materials to minimize cost.
The living room provides a unique and impressive space-it is narrow (15.8 m2 in floor area) , and highest ceiling height is 5.5 meters, and a large quadrilateral skylight (18.2m2) connects the space to the sky. Square panel, punctured with smaller square in the middle, is inscribed in the quadrilateral shape, and dramatic contrast of light and shadow provides a new perceptive experience.
I have been exploring possibilities of polyhedron architecture in small lots of Tokyo for ten years. Moreover it is my long-time challenge to liberate one’s five senses with eye-opening spatial. This project is one of such successful cases.