Here’s another project from Japanese studio Suppose Design Office, this time a house in Buzen, Japan, where separate structures are connected under a glass canopy.
Called House in Buzen, the wood-clad residence features courtyards and corridors where children can play under the glazed roof.
More about Suppose Design Office on Dezeen:
Lodge hair Salon (February 2010)
Karis cardboard boutique (February 2010)
Cloud at Designtide Tokyo (November 2009)
Nature Factory (August 2009)
House in Minamimachi (July 2009)
House in Matsuyama (July 2009)
House in Nagoya (July 2009)
House in Saijo (July 2009)
House in Jigozen (June 2009)
House in Sakuragawa (June 2009)
House in Kamakura (June 2009)
Here are some more details from the designers:
House in Buzen
When they are young, places like a narrow path between houses, the edge of a garden, the back of a shed, under the floor, or an open lot are the preferred playgrounds of children.
Rather than a park or garden that was built to be played in, we wanted to make a house with a courtyard that would become a playground naturally.
Rather than a collection of rooms, we think of this house as a collection of constructions, and we produced a design that seems to be made out of various different structures.
Paths covered by a glass roof weave between the disconnected structures to create an interior space that feels exterior, a private space that feels public, a hall that feels like an avenue.
In that space the children can run around, you can enjoy a breeze while you eat, read under the sun, and fall asleep watching the stars.
There is a charm beyond imagination there, beyond normal home life.
Just like children who use space outside to its full potential, we wanted to make equal the relationship between inside-and out by using the courtyard as a part of everyday life and bringing inside activities outside.
Beyond making city streets like courtyards to make them feel closer to houses, we want to continue to try and envision the architecture of the future, moving past the inside-outside relationship to find new types of connections.
February 17th, 2010 at 1:09 am
LOVE IT!! absolutely wonderful!! simple exterior/interior, but a big idea! LOVE IT!!
February 17th, 2010 at 1:14 am
ABSOLUTELY FLAULESS
February 17th, 2010 at 1:31 am
Floorplans and sections would be nice.
February 17th, 2010 at 2:23 am
perfect for a starry night .. horrible for a hurricane.
but still, really nice job, its nice to see a Japanese house that doesn’t enclose the house itself.
well done
February 17th, 2010 at 4:34 am
Just utterly gorgeous. Seems like a project for which many architects would be hesitant, what with the cost and contracting work for those glass ceilings and walls.
An inward, sensitive, tasteful, private kingdom.
February 17th, 2010 at 5:12 am
What an unpleasant place is that “patio”. Certanly helps to enchance the conceptual distinction between the rooms and the “other”, but NO.
February 17th, 2010 at 5:35 am
What a clever design ! The designers are so brilliant in their conceptualisation. I especially liked the idea of blurring the boundaries between the public and private domains within the house. What’s also beautiful is that the house is now a “collection of smaller houses” with intricate and intimate alleys, instead of a conventional house with rooms connected by corridors and stairs.
February 17th, 2010 at 5:53 am
this is nice concept~
it’s like houses inside a house, the inside is outside is inside haha
February 17th, 2010 at 6:14 am
And when it rains and it gets al dirty?
February 17th, 2010 at 6:47 am
很愉快的房子
中文介绍看这里http://smartwoodhouse.blogbus.com/logs/58784971.html
February 17th, 2010 at 8:22 am
I love the glass froof, it looks great!
February 17th, 2010 at 9:03 am
Very impressive.I don´t see very much examples to compare with Japan at the moment.
February 17th, 2010 at 9:52 am
very interesting interpretation of something like a patio.
February 17th, 2010 at 10:06 am
nice & strong. thumbs up!
February 17th, 2010 at 10:42 am
This patio of indoor become over 60 ℃ on japanese summer.
February 17th, 2010 at 10:47 am
One of the best projects ever featured on Dezeen. I want to live there! Yet, this would make a splendid studio to work on ;)
Major thumbs up for this one! This made my day!
February 17th, 2010 at 11:13 am
I dig it but no way could I live in such a empty in environment, to sterile.
February 17th, 2010 at 11:34 am
until a kid plays with a ball inside and breaks the roof.
February 17th, 2010 at 12:06 pm
nice idea!
but looks very expansive! i don’t wanna know how much money they spend for heatingcosts/airconditioner…
February 17th, 2010 at 12:13 pm
like it, but does it not get very hot inside there?
February 17th, 2010 at 12:41 pm
Love the inside/ouside look and feel. Like a big garden that connects the rooms.
But flat glass roof? Where I come from flat glass roof means leaky roof
February 17th, 2010 at 12:44 pm
This is definitely the most beautiful design I have ever seen. Gorgeous!
February 17th, 2010 at 1:39 pm
lovely looking design but, i’m guessing, ruined by how incredibly noisy it will be to live in here.
February 17th, 2010 at 2:26 pm
OMG. Amazing. I Love it. i also wanna see skylight+drainage detail.
February 17th, 2010 at 3:29 pm
If you’re jonezing so hard to bring the outside in, try going outside.
February 17th, 2010 at 3:39 pm
beautiful!
February 17th, 2010 at 3:50 pm
wow! I relly love this house♡
February 17th, 2010 at 5:18 pm
if there was ever a time when a plan would be helpful, this is it…
February 17th, 2010 at 6:40 pm
la idea es genial, pero cuanta perdida de energia en acondicionadores!!
February 17th, 2010 at 6:48 pm
this reminds me of the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia by Rafael Viñoly. A very similar execution of very different programs and scales.
February 17th, 2010 at 10:22 pm
looks cold and not very homely :-(
February 18th, 2010 at 12:28 am
I wonder if it can get hot in the summer like a greenhouse effect.
February 18th, 2010 at 3:03 am
Love the idea, even the design. However, it looks very cold for something that is apparently built around kids having fun. The kid looks lonely and doesn’t seem to be enjoying his ‘playground’.
I also think in these times of trying to save energy, a glass roof over such an expanse would involve huge energy consumption to keep it cool/warm.
Want the feeling of the outdoors? Go outdoors.
February 18th, 2010 at 4:02 am
It reminds me a cave, but not in a bad way.
February 18th, 2010 at 9:27 am
for me is the best home ever made, more then genial
February 18th, 2010 at 10:32 am
Beautiful house to inhabit and very interesting (though not new at all in theory) way of blurring inside with outside within the same perimeter as others pointed out. The only concerns are the heat in the summer would induce huge air conditioning electricity bills and in winter, if it snows heavily, which is not rare in Japan, would that glass roof withstand the snow weight load when it accumulates? So many roofs collapse because of snow load (think the skating hall in Russia that collapsed a couple of years ago due to heavy snow load). Having said that, I would love to see the visual effect of that roof covered with snow. It might look quite interesting actually though maybe a slanted glass roof would be a safer choice.
February 18th, 2010 at 12:33 pm
if this was my house i think id like to try part carpeting it, (not being limited to the individual rooms but in instead in parts bringing it out into the courtyard spaces, not too much though and not everywhere), i do think this is an interesting concept for an urban family house,
February 18th, 2010 at 1:56 pm
Nishizawa with a glass roof
February 18th, 2010 at 8:03 pm
this is more than one reason that demonstrate-japanese architecture is smart
February 19th, 2010 at 1:18 am
i’m realllly curious to see the roof details where it meets the interior volumes. that just screams leakage to me.
February 19th, 2010 at 1:35 am
Good idea….in little space…
“Less is more ” is the best sentence to describe this house…
February 19th, 2010 at 4:06 am
Yes, this one would suit my lifestyle wonderfully!
February 19th, 2010 at 8:53 am
Beautiful but not functional
February 19th, 2010 at 7:44 pm
seems like a better concept than an actual living space. don’t get me wrong, I’d like it as a studio but it feels too cold/non-human for a place to live. especially with children. the comments about heating/cooling/load bearing roofs are valid ones to consider too. but, I’d love to work there!
February 20th, 2010 at 6:51 am
I love it! but want to see details … see if it works… maravilhoso trabalho!
February 23rd, 2010 at 9:29 am
I wish there was a bit of space for more planting, like a garden, and a bit more wood and warmth.. but I just love this concept and great craftsmanship.. Stunning rather!
February 23rd, 2010 at 2:37 pm
Thats so kool-aid man you know heres another way to get your vitamins threw sun light.”I thought this verything about more then fifteen years ago and somebody kicked it into high gear,cool!”.Thanks for sharing it with the world and to Matt its a kool ting man just need ta choose your colours,and its a smarter cheaper way to save energy and create art works at almost any size while get P.R. for thinking out side the box,cheers!”.
February 24th, 2010 at 11:43 pm
This seems to be an exercise in what you might design if there were not any environmental issues in the world today. Unfortunately we live in the 21st century and the fact that the building must have huge heating and cooling needs, makes it a bad design in my book, whether its pretty or not
February 25th, 2010 at 2:42 am
Architecture from Japan. What used to be exciting ten years ago has now turned into the most conventional and generic strategy. This would be an interesting project if it was a group of several houses under the same roof, instead of a single house. It’d be a communal space that brings something forward. Instead, it is just the application of the same old solution: a collection of discrete spaces under a single roof. Enough of that!
February 25th, 2010 at 3:28 am
So much concrete and glass coupled with, I can guarantee no insulation, even in the room parts would make this house an icebox in winter. It probably wouldn’t snow in this part of Japan, but as it is in Fukuoka it would be also ridiculously hot in summer. Looks really cool though
February 25th, 2010 at 12:37 pm
Re. frames 7, 9 and 13: I see that one is not allowed to hang pictures on the walls.
February 25th, 2010 at 4:27 pm
The bathroom could use some curtains, shutters, or shades on the windows for privacy.
March 1st, 2010 at 2:13 am
No question it’s very nice….but…could see it working just as nicely (possibly better) with a few judiciously located connecting canopies…the glass just doesn’t come off either as functionally necessary or essential to the thing. On the contrary, it comes with multiple liabilities and invites more problems than it solves. As many comments have pointed out, the glass roof seems to violate the rule of ‘commodity’ as Vitruvius would say. Might have been more rewarding to acknowledge weather as a design consideration rather than fighting it (you know who will win). The glass roof kind of detours around some meaningful alternative opportunities to incorporate pools, scuppers, planting and water management as design components. Not to mention the advanced ideas regarding heating and cooling this approach would have demanded.