This house designed by Japanese studio Suppose Design Office in the grounds of a clinic is raised above the car park on piloti.
Located in Obama city in Fukui, Japan, the house is divided internally by courtyards between each room.
Glass walls between the rooms and courtyards can be opened to connect all parts of the house.
More about Suppose Design Office in our special category.
The information below is from the architects:
House in Obama
House in Obama is for a family of a president of a company that is located at the opposite side of a road. The site is near the beach, and it has some climatic problems such as damaging from sea breeze.
Because of the site condition, the client wanted their residence space closed to the outside environment.
The building has piloti because of keeping some space for cars as it was used as a parking lot.
Although skinny steel structure was considered for the piloti, it was designed as Reinforced concrete structure to create more friendly environment for old patients who are high rates for the clinic.
The structure answers both conditions to have closed residential space and open parking area.
The construction at the second floor is metal structure that can be a wide span because of the exterior walls as it was designed for truss beams.
Kitchen space, bathrooms, study corners, storage and so on are placed at the boarder line of the building area.
Other rooms used as main space of a residence, such as living space, bed room, kids rooms are located inner area to protect from cold air from outside.
The unique design of the house is inside courtyards.
The gardens are placed between the rooms and separate each room.
The walls at the courtyards are glass-framed walls, and they create one continuous space of the house, especially when they are opened and connect all space.
Because of the courtyards, elements of the rooms and gardens are mixed and interact each other to create space that is hard to define neither inside nor outside.
We believe the relationship would create more possibilities of architecture that could be more open and closer to the outside environment.
location : Obama city, Fukui, Japan
principal use :personal house
site area: 389.25sqm
building area : 171.60sqm
total floor area :301.29sqm
( 1F:158.60sqm 2F:142.69sqm )
completion : September. 2009
design period: 2007-2008
construction period: September.2009
structure: Steel construction 2 story
client: A couple
project architect: Makoto Tanijiri [suppose design office]+ Masafumu Tanaka
project team: Makoto Tanijiri [suppose design office]+ Masafumi Tanaka[Masafumi Tanaka], in-charge; Masafumi Shimatani
March 4th, 2010 at 11:44 am
would’ve liked to see those dense pilotis penetrate the box inside with the same thickness and angle…
otherwise a nice take on the private japanese house…
March 4th, 2010 at 11:47 am
A lighting box, simply beautifully done.
Although a bit unfriendly for the context…
March 4th, 2010 at 11:58 am
Beautifully done.Although I hate those long monotoneous volumes.
March 4th, 2010 at 12:00 pm
A room with a view please….
March 4th, 2010 at 12:04 pm
beautiful piloti.
March 4th, 2010 at 12:10 pm
…forget about the party being in the kitchen though…
other than that. i think its nice.
i dont know how this guys have 27 projects in a year… its crazy.
good for them.
March 4th, 2010 at 2:13 pm
brilliant, as always
March 4th, 2010 at 2:30 pm
the title made me do a double-take.
March 4th, 2010 at 3:15 pm
i was missing their design :)… it’s really beautiful!
March 4th, 2010 at 3:51 pm
the glass framed staircase is quite refreshing.
March 4th, 2010 at 4:37 pm
Love this…very clever and the exterior is so completely turned on its head when compared to the open internal spaces.
But please…how much longer are people going to submit projects without floor plans and sections? Buildings arent objects, like chairs and lights also featured on this site. Please include the other drawings so one can have a more clear cut idea of the functionality of the buildings as well.
March 4th, 2010 at 7:07 pm
no plans…. any drawings??????
March 4th, 2010 at 7:11 pm
Is this really Obama’s house? This is very strange. I am surprised he would want to spend his days off in Japan when he’s from Hawaii. Either way the design is very elegant. Seeing a plan would be nice, if nothing else than to see how they handled the kids rooms. Bravo!!! — another excellent project from an outstanding office!!!
March 4th, 2010 at 8:29 pm
Outward things become so unpleasant that people try to isolate themselves from it as much as possible….
March 4th, 2010 at 10:17 pm
Brilliant !!!
March 5th, 2010 at 12:28 am
does anyone know what the white exterior cladding is?
March 5th, 2010 at 1:44 am
T Sandwich – hahah OBAMA is the name of city….
March 5th, 2010 at 2:44 am
>T Sandwich
it’s an private house for Japanese in Obama city JAPAN ~
March 5th, 2010 at 9:44 am
It’s a New Orleans Shotgun on huge stilts!! It would have been nice to see something more like this from the Make it Right designers!!
March 11th, 2010 at 5:24 am
Do these guys sleep?!
March 11th, 2010 at 5:53 pm
I know someone who is good friends with Makoto Tanijiri, the principal of Suppose. Tanijiri is obviously quite ambitious and hard-working. They produce an amazing amount of quality work each year. He has designed AND built dozens of houses and he has yet to hit 40 years old. An enviable career by any standards. Interestingly, the main office is in Hiroshima with a relatively new satellite office in Tokyo. It’s rare for an office to be this successful coming out of somewhere other than Tokyo.
It’s also refreshing to see an absence of the “how could you put the bathroom so close to the kitchen!” or “those stairs look dangerous!” comments. By Western standards, the Japanese have a long history of unorthodox programmatic adjacencies and code requirements (particularly for residences). And clearly Suppose’s clients are unorthodox, so it should be no surprise that they approve unorthodox designs.
If you haven’t already, pick up a copy of “In Praise of Shadows” by Junichiro Tanizaki. The essay in praise of the outhouse alone is worth the read. Funny and thought-provoking. It’ll offer a small glimpse into the mindset of the Japanese.
March 15th, 2010 at 3:32 pm
seems that tokya has been over populated, privacy has become priority so windows have gone vertical, somehow
March 16th, 2010 at 2:31 pm
I want to live there.
March 16th, 2010 at 5:37 pm
From the exterior, this house looks so very much like the FEMA trailers that were all over New Orleans after the storm.
Its pleasantly surprising to see how open and airy it is on the inside.