Kuro is a house in Fukui city, Japan, by architect Takuya Hosokai and Hiromasa Mori.
The wooden building was completed last year.
“Kuro” is Japanese for “black”.
Update: see Shiro, a hair salon by the same architects, in our new story.
Here are some facts from the architects:
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“Kuro”
design: 1980 / Takuya Hosokai + Hiromasa Mori
Place: Fukui city, Fukui prefecture, Japan
program: residential house
Built: July, 2007
structure: Wood building
site area: 457.31 sqm
building area: 139.13 sqm
total floor area:161.79 sqm
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Posted by Marcus Fairs
June 17th, 2008 at 4:57 pm
designed in 1980…completed in 2007?
June 17th, 2008 at 5:44 pm
plans plans plans, i need plans plans plans… [all together]
it seems that dezeen hates plans.
June 17th, 2008 at 6:18 pm
A brilliant composition…can I call it a residence?…where the exterior composition is as central as the interior, perhaps the generator. But yes, plans, by all means plans.
June 17th, 2008 at 6:47 pm
japanese architecture always looks so beautiful and empty, but who live in this place s? for me the japanese architecture are lost in your zen cliche…
June 17th, 2008 at 6:58 pm
I love curtains and lightbulbs. I would like to see it with furniture in it.
June 17th, 2008 at 8:18 pm
beautiful exterior shot. exquisite.
how such a sensibility can lead to such appallingly claustrophobic interior spaces, i have no idea.
the interiors represent japanese design at its worst.
June 17th, 2008 at 8:59 pm
could have done with one more curtain for the wallmounted aircon unit in photo 8
June 17th, 2008 at 9:07 pm
esklabuak,
Not only does there always seem to be a lack of drawings, there is a lack of people. This is my biggest gripe with objectified design. We see a chair, and nothing else. A lamp and nothing else. An empty space and nothing else. When will we start seeing spaces WITH people. How am I supposed to grasp scale and other human factors if I only get white walls and an object. I would LOVE to see actual human beings placed in these settings or using the objects shown on this website. Perhaps it is not dezeen’s fault, but the fault of the designer to never want to show plans, people or drawings because they “clutter” the object.
June 17th, 2008 at 11:13 pm
I suspect the Kuro residence is a weekend home. One for soothing the jangled nerves of say, a floor trader at the Tokyo bourse. The last private owner of the Farnsworth house, a man of considerable means who owned several homes worldwide, said he stayed in the Farnsworth because it imparted a felling of serenity which helped to recharge his batteries after hectic business activity.
So what’s wrong with a little Zen in a such dramatic surroundings.
June 18th, 2008 at 3:43 am
It’s a house for kids to play.
There’s this theatrical feeling, with all these curtains and light bulbs and these little stages; it is comical in a certain way. I also see it as a warm, delicate house, due to the ubiquity of its spaces and the different light intensities throughout the day. The excessive indoor whiteness is reliefed by the variation of floor patterns and materials – clever.
I really don’t believe there’s anything Zen about this place. No one says Alvaro Siza’s white finishings is Zen – or Niemeyers. If the architects were Bolivian no one would say that.
It’s a place full of possibilities, full of imagination. Really surprising.
June 19th, 2008 at 2:03 am
why no plans? image me?
June 19th, 2008 at 3:01 am
This is quite unique! Never seen anything like this. The atmosphere of the curtains is especially nice. I would love to live here.
Who needs plans? You get the feeling of the house quite nicely with these photographs.
June 19th, 2008 at 11:28 am
Plans don’t lie.
(great builing btw)
June 19th, 2008 at 2:38 pm
VERY GOOD play of curtain opacity.
June 20th, 2008 at 6:49 am
i like there light
June 21st, 2008 at 3:42 am
strange,surreal….but i like it
June 21st, 2008 at 7:46 pm
People, furniture, trip souvenirs, pets???
architecture??????
July 14th, 2008 at 11:22 am
wow! an interesting new era in the concept of curtains.. i would love to see more of that work!
I love the way japanese architecture is so crisp and has a sharp edge to it’s perfection.
November 19th, 2008 at 12:24 am
beautiful place) mad japanese architecture