Japanese architects Atelier Tekuto have created a house in Hayama, Japan, by wrapping two 100 year-old wooden warehouses in a new faceted skin.

Glazed doors at one corner slide back to join the open-plan interior to a terrace, exposing one wooden column of the original structure.

New wooden furring strips and composite boards are laid over the old beams and supports of the two warehouses, which can still be seen inside.

Flooring removed from the lower storey of The Yachiyo house was re-used upstairs, while the ground floor is now covered in reclaimed bricks.

The house also contains a temporary shop.

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The following is from the architects:

YACHIYO

Although Atelier Tekuto’s «Relocation» project has been underway since 2007, Yachiyo is the first «Re-location» building completed in Japan. The building is situated 100 meters from the ocean in Hayama, Kanagawa prefecture. This is used as a secondary residence and temporary shop.

PURPOSE

To make 100 year old materials last for another 100 years. To fuse old and new material, juxtaposing the regional and cultural differences in a parallel arrangement.

We treat sunlight as a material. A material that can be captured only for an instant. It has the ability to fuse the juxtaposing elements or emphasize their differences. It exists both within and outside the human concept of time.

Sunlight turns the interior space inside out. It highlights the dramatic structure as it permeates the building, accentuating the marriage between traditional and contemporary values. At night, custom handmade light fixtures let Yachiyo float into sight like a constellation fireflies.

Yachiyo - Japanese word meaning «a long time».

RELOCATION

Two abandoned warehouses built 100 and 120 years ago were chosen. In order to reinforce the structure, the two warehouses were wrapped with furring strips that also function as thin columns. Enhanced high-pressure wood wool cement boards which act as insulation were attached. This provided structural reinforcement, humidity control and thermal insulation all in one system.

The wrapping material was reduced to a thickness of 95mm in order to provide more interior space. Also, the preexisting material was treated in order to prevent infestation and provide resistance against the salty environment. The first floor is composed of eighty year old bricks made in Shanghai. The material of the previous first floor was then refinished and applied to the 2nd floor. In effect, disused materials were transported from distant locations and given new life.

Re-configuring Values

“Re-configuring Values” is a concept that will permeate the 21st Century. The following concepts are essential to this discussion:

Ecology: the conservation of the global environment - the most significant theme for this century – ought to be examined from a new standpoint, through new developments and re-configurations.

Cross-Culture: adopting specific local and regional characteristics in order to achieve not just simple integration between different architectural styles and cultures, but to create culture on an entirely new dimension.

Reconsideration of Time: a re-examination of the past in order to predict the future. An increased awareness of time as a phenomenon that can preserve local and regional differences in material and character.

It is essential to achieve a greater understanding of when to preserve, when to eliminate or when to maintain.

Based on these three approaches, we are working to “re-configure values” by recycling, reducing and relocating Japan’s traditional Minka houses in order to give them new life.

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Tokyo architects Atelier Tekuto have completed a prefabricated aluminium house in Kanazawa, Japan.

Prefabricated aluminium components with pipes passed through them form both structural elements and a thermal radiation system for heating and cooling.

LED lighting is reflected by the aluminium and reduces energy costs.

Called A-ring, the building is the culmination of the practice's Aluminium House Project (see our previous story).

Here's some information from Atelier Tekuto:

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A-ring (Aluminum-ring House 3) – House that coexists symbiotically with the environment

Since November 2005, Yasuhiro Yamashita/Atelier Tekuto, together with about 20 universities and companies, have been working on the Aluminum House Project. Its aim is to develop next-generation houses that coexist symbiotically with the environment. The project has focused on developing a single piece of aluminum that would be able to serve various functions at once – structure, ventilation, lighting and household fixtures.

Two prefabricated houses made of wood and aluminum were completed in 2008 and July 2009, while a third house, the culmination of the project’s efforts, was finally built after 4 years in Kanazawa, one of the most challenging environments in Japan.

A year before its completion date, this house was selected to receive an inaugural government grant as part of Japan’s initiative to reduce carbon dioxide emissions resulting from the construction of houses and buildings.

The following is a list of systems developed for the project.

1. Development of structural system using aluminum-rings

By developing modified deck plate molds composed of columns, walls and binding joists that could be held together using one basic dice mold, and opting to use ordinary bolts to hold the structure together, we were able to achieve better construction quality, reuse materials and reduce waste.

2. Development of composite units that combine structure, a heating/cooling radiator system and water section.

A pipe was passed through the aluminum mould in order to serve as a heating/cooling radiator panel. This effectively created a large radiator that also served a structural function. Unit baths and kitchens were also built into the aluminum rings.

3. Development of natural energy harnessing unit

An improved system of obtaining heat from groundwater and geothermal energy using solar power was developed. Improvements to this system cut energy costs by half.

4. Development of structure + lighting system

By installing LED lights that made use of aluminum’s reflective properties inside the aluminum structure, as well as replacing all lighting fixtures in the house with LEDs, we were able to reduce energy consumption by 80%.

5. Development of “green curtains”

A “passive fence” was created by sprinkling water inside the frame. A hemp cord was passed through an aluminum frame, and plants were made to twine around the cord. Installing tanks for collecting rainwater then allowed water to circulate inside the aluminum frame, while a portion of the water was turned into mist for watering the plants and cooling the house inside.

Future developments

In the three months after the Kanazawa house was completed in August 2009 and before move-in, various experiments were conducted to measure temperature changes in the groundwater, changes in water temperature above ground, changes in the temperature of the aluminum panels, changes in indoor and outdoor air temperature, and so on. Starting in November, one person will move into the house and live there for about a year while carrying on various other measurements. Based on the data from these experiments, improvements to the system and the various units will be made with a view to preparing the product for the market.

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Japanese architects Atelier Tekuto have designed the Twin-Bricks House in Urawa-ku, Saitama, Japan.

The building consists of two wings; one contains five rented apartments (left above) while the owner's family home is in the other.

The family home is set further back from the road than the rental wing in order to accommodate the owner's collection of cars.

Photographs by Makoto Yoshida.

The following information is from the architects:

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Twin-Bricks

Twin-Bricks, consists of two wings - the five rental dwelling units and the owner’s two-family house is located in a quiet residential area, just 15 minute-walking distance from the JR Urawa station. In order to secure some space for the owner’s car collections, the Owner wing (RC Wing) stands nearer to the road than the Rental wing (S Wing).

The Rental wing partly has ALC panels as well as glass blocks. This building, based on the “Crystal Brick” completed previously, enables these ALC panels, not only glass blocks, as aseismatic elements in order to improve cost-effectiveness.

The physical similarity of glass blocks and ALC panels was focused and this structure was realized after a series of experiments. As a result of these experiments, it is concluded that the safety of the building is advanced because ALC panels are destroyed before glass blocks.

With ALC panels randomly located, walls, columns and beams cannot be clearly distinguished, therefore, an intriguing spatial composition is materialized.

The RC wing adopted the “RC structure + exterior thermal insulation” construction method developed at the Atelier Tekuto Co., Ltd., with the purpose of alleviating working noise at the garage and securing privacy and performance of the Owner wing.

A huge cost reduction was attempted by using enhanced high-pressure woodwool cement boards and integrating the boards as formworks. Also, original tiles were developed after careful consideration.

The contrast between heavy RC wing and light S wing and between glass blocks and ALC panels, both of which show similar physicality while different materials. The spatial contrast generated here is making the space more exciting.

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