Japanese architect Yoshichika Takagi has completed this house surrounded by car parks in Akita, Japan.
Called House I, the project involved enclosing the kitchen, bathrooms, bedrooms and storage in interconnected boxes.
The spaces between these volumes form courtyards, corridors and living spaces.
See also: House K by Yoshichika Takagi
More Japanese houses on Dezeen »
Photographs are by Toshiyuki Yano.
Here are some more details from the architect:
House I
This is a small residential house in Akita Prefecture.
The site is in the centre of Akita City where urban functions are situated. Despite its urban location, this is a special place as it is surrounded by car parks.
Considering that the space is exposed to public eyes in all four directions, it is essential to sustain the elements of privacy, but at the same time, our aim is to drop frontality from its façade.
In order to keep privacy, it is sensible to keep the rooms within the enclosure, and it also helps with the indoor environment in the northern climate.
However, enclosure would give a closed feeling, hence the task is to find a way to layout spaces that are closed enough to keep privacy and would also at the same time give an extensive feeling to the space outside.
First, we made a list of facilities that would require enclosure; kitchen, bathroom, toilet, bedroom and storage room, all of which would be enclosed in box-shaped spaces. A collection of these spaces are gathered like pleats, which create many gap areas in various sizes.
This complex structure of these gap spaces gives depth to the whole place as well as an illusion that there is more space beyond what is visible.
The frames installed in the walls of the boxes overlap with one another, and the whole place looks like a combination of facing mirrors depicting different sceneries.
We designed this house on simple rules based on 2 factors: rooms that need to be enclosed should be kept in boxes and rooms that do not need to be enclosed are in the gaps between boxes.
By applying these rules, the space is presented with a complex structure that gives a feeling of extensive space.
Design: Yoshichika Takagi
Location: Akita Japan
Structural design: Daisuke Hasegawa (Daisuke Hasegawa & Partners)
Gross useable floor space: 100.24 m2
Lot size: 476.99 m2
Start of work: July 2009
Completion of work: October 2010
Structure in: Wooden Structure
Floor: 2-Storey
Walls surfaces: Garvanised stealseat siding
Kitchen companies: Designed by Yoshichika Takagi
See also:
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| House K by Yoshichika Takagi |
House in Fukawa by Suppose Design Office |
Gable House by FORM/Kouichi Kimura |
The people standing in the photos looks kind of creepy. Reminds me of a Japenese horror movie. Otherwise a bright and peaceful sensation is aroused through the design.
Is it just me or is there no other houses worthy of being posted on this site other than 'another minimalist house in japan'?
Clever balustrades though.
Beautiful.
Just never try to raise children in a Japanese house.
no kids allowed in such a house…
amazing white! japanes colour!
Very nice. Build not in a nice suriundings, but, it's so calm an peacefull inside. very nice.
Not the nicest location for a modern house.
I wonder if they care what we think of their architecture at this very moment..
I like the surprise on this rather odd location though. But on the insight you hardly notice there's a parkinglot surrounding the building. Well done I think. And I agree with Jan. I wouldn't let my baby crawl arround the house. On the other side, mafnificent place to do a game of hide and seek! Well done!
The location photograph is actually was seals the deal for me: those white blocks of different height and width, in the middle of an area surrounded by non-descript brownish buildings, makes is strikingly appealing in my opinion.
I also like the maze-like distribution of spaces but as a parent, I not a very big fan of the lack of security, however clever and cool those balustrades look.
Ignore the negativos that are stuck in the bog of the banal. Japan is the last bastion of modernistic design.and deserves exposure in perceptive blogs such as this. The poetry of this design is invisible to the philistine. Keep them coming.
out of place….
With due respect to all that is said about the balustrade and other meticilous detailing in the house, I believe that the most important element of the design is its play with scale.
I am not sure, but I feel like the architects wanted tp create a scaled model of the site's surroundings.
It seems like they have succedeed in creating a much larger site out of that small plot by playing with sight.
Excellent !!
I agree with Mario. As for kids, pick a room and give them some crayons…
Such a pity that such formidable design is sited in such an in-formidable location.