Externally, Y-Clinic appears as four conjoined buildings creating a facade of protrusions and recesses with seemingly random windows and an uneven pitched roof.

These exterior irregularities are in fact the result of architect Kimitaka Aoki's sun trajectory studies and response to the surrounding scenery. These calculations result in an interior flooded with daylight and expansive views of paddy fields, cherry blossom and a river.

White walls and exposed wooden rafters that run in different directions depending on which roof section they support emphasise the varying internal volumes.

Aoki told Dezeen, "it’s important to directly express the shape and angle of each roof by leaving the rafters exposed".

Aoki is part of Japanese studio ARCO Architects.

Other clinics we've featured include Hackney studio Gort Scott's Cat Clinic, a vetinary practice with a subtly feline facade, and a Japanese hair treatment clinic by KORI architecture office and Arimoto Yushiro.

Photography is by Ippei Shinzawa.

Here's some more information from the architect:

This clinic is located in Tsuchiura, Ibaraki prefecture, Japan. The place next to rice paddy and riverbed is surrounded by nature. There are rice paddy, riverbed, cherry blossom trees, and beautiful sky.

Client (female doctor) demanded no rigidly formal clinic. On the other hand she really demanded reasonable and efficient circulation of doctor, staff and patient.

We designed the clinic by some clues (scenery, seasonal winds, sun trajectory and neighboring buildings) . We found out concavo-convex shape plan with keeping reasonable circulations. And, we suggested characteristic forms which is four buildings with each different roof which is leaded to relationships between inside and outside environment. The format of this architecture is unique to particular places. Whole building form is generated there by some elements. All rooms are rich in light due to offered sunlight by concavo-convex shape plan and different roofs. We can feel inside-space like passing through under some mountains in clinic. This building could be seemed such as villages from people walking along riverbed.

It's important to for us to consider environmental interrelationship. We strongly desire that the clinic is loved by neighborhood inhabitant and as new symbol in this local area. Although architecture actually has fate as huge artifact, we have to design new architecture which could be integrated environment. Its “scenery” may be called as “new nature (semi-nature)” through their times and affection. It could be new shape of future clinic.

Architects: kimitaka aoki / ARCO architects

Location: tsuchiura , ibaraki , Japan

Architect In Charge : kimitaka aoki

Structural Engineer : yasuhiro kaneda

Area: 198.9 sqm

Year: 2013.03

Photographs: Ippei Shinzawa

Above: site plan

Above: floor plan

Above: long section

Above: short section

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of ARCO Architects appeared first on Dezeen.

This holiday home in Kanagawa, Japan, by Japanese studios Nakae Architects and Ohno Japan comprises two separate blocks fanning outwards towards Tokyo Bay.

Named Minami-Hayama duo, the two buildings are composed of thirteen vertical walls spreading over the triangular site with glass infills between them.

Internally the floors are arranged around split levels connected by spiral staircases.

Located on a steep hill, the upper floors have views towards Mount Fuji.

Photography is by Hiroyasu Sakaguchi.

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The following information is from the architects:

Minami-Hayama duo

Walking up the steep slope that branches off from the seaside highway, you experience a spectacular sequence of surrounding scenery. The landscape has intricate layers of hills and valleys, with trees and houses scattered along the undulating surfaces. And as you go up, a stunning panorama of the Bay of Sagami gradually unfolds in front of you, with a fine view of Mt. Fuji and the Izu Peninsula in distance.

We designed a weekend house, which consists of two separate blocks, located near the top of the landscape. The site is an uneven fan-shaped land situated between two roads at the Y-shaped intersection. The site had to be divided in two for each blocks. The divided sites varied in size, shape and orientation, but our intention was to provide the same volumes, equal living condition, and the best views for the both of them.

The two blocks both consist of thirteen 10-meter-high walls with various widths. Each walls stand separately, and glass is inserted in between. Walls are set irregularly, so you will experience a dramatic sequence of different framings of the surrounding view as you move among them. The second floor, which is divided by stairs in the middle, has split-levels, so you can enjoy views at different eye levels.

As you move along this ever-changing scenery framed by irregular walls, you begin to feel that the walls themselves become parts of the surrounding view. Our intention is to bring the spectacle of the surrounding scenery into the space. The walls open to the sea and the mountains, and are closed against the adjacent block and the neighbor. However our intention was to in create a dramatic and intricate space, which is not just about “open and close” relationship.

In this project big challenge was to design two separate blocks in a rather small fan-shaped site divided in two sections. However by boldly opening up the space towards the surrounding scenery, you feel as if Mt. Fuji has become a part of your site. We successfully created a dramatic openness that one cannot experience in everyday life in the city.

Location: Yokosuka, Kanagawa, Japan
Principal use: 2 weekend houses
Architects: Yuji Nakae / Nakae Architects, Hirofumi Ohno / Ohno Japan

Site Area: A-98.88m2, B-107.29m2
Building Area: A-49.15m2, B-49.77m2
Total Floor Area: A-101.18m2, B-101.67m2
Structure: Reinforced Concrete, 3 stories

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and Ohno Japan appeared first on Dezeen.

This motorway service station along Route 230 in northern Japan, by architects Code, has a black, rectangular form that snakes up from the ground towards a nearby mountain.

The shape of the building was influenced by the curves of the landscape, but internally it has a simple single-storey arrangement.

A number of shops and food outlets are contained within, serving drivers travelling between the towns of Kutchan and Rusutsu.

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Here are some more details about the project from the architect:

GR230
Concept Text

GR230 is a highway service centre located in the town of Kimobetsu, Hokkaido. Situated along Route 230 at the crossroads leading towards Kutchan and Rusutsu, the facility is a vital hub that connects various towns and areas in the Shiribeshi sub prefecture, including popular tourist spots, museums, workplaces, homes and a diverse range of other everyday destinations.

GR230’s primary function is to provide services centring on food from the local area. It features a simple, flat layout that consists of shops and kiosks, rest areas, and food and beverage outlets.

This project began in 2005 as part of a plan to widen Route 230, a national highway that runs right through the centre of Kimobetsu. The town offered us the use of a site for our proposed building, with the car park, toilets and tourist office managed by the local municipal government. Construction and business operations were undertaken by private corporations.

A town planning committee was launched in Kimobetsu at the same time that the project was getting started, which we joined from the outset. One of the issues involved in planning this highway service centre was how to project its presence in relation to the passing traffic. We made careful, repeated studies of building forms that would be appropriate to the location as well as how the centre would serve as a local landmark, finally deciding that the architecture itself ought to serve as a kind of signboard.

Although the completed form of the building was designed to incorporate multiple meanings within it, the motif on which the shape of the facility was based is in fact concealed within the landscape of ravines and gorges, with Mount Shiribetsu to the south and Mount Yotei to the west.

Click above for larger image

While the magnificent scenery that surrounds the building may bring to mind a lush, green summer season, this part of Hokkaido actually sees long winters that last for almost half the year. The black band made up of various trees whose leaves have fallen is a bare expression of the vast land that is obscured during the warmer months. Undulations in the structure, combined with colour gradations in the black band and the contrast with the white snow-covered fields in the distance, create an abstract visual effect.

When the architectural form of the building first emerged over the course of our studies, we felt as if a vision of the pristine winter landscapes of northern Japan had surfaced from the depths of our memory.

With GR230, we have created a beautiful piece of architecture that commands a dignified presence during the foliage-rich summer months, and a quieter one that seemingly dissolves into the surrounding landscape during the long, reclusive winters.

Project credits/data
Architects: Naoji maekawa
Total floor space: 371.38sq m
Structure: Wooden flat building

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Every room of this house in Japan by local architects Katsutoshi Sasaki + Associates is contained in a separate block, connected by sliding doors.

This allows the rooms of Small House to each have unique proportions suited to their interior functions, as well as different material finishes.

The clustered arrangement of blocks creates two defined courtyards that form a garden and a parking area.

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Photography is by Toshiyuki Yano.

Here are some more details from the architects:

Small House

As the site is surrounded by rice fields, we planned "a small house" that the idyllic atmosphere and landscape.

The entire volume of the house was first divided into individual rooms, their each concept were finally linked together taking account of factors such as connection of garden and room, entrance of light, ventilation, flow line of daily activities, etc.

Also, to meet with the demand for a guest parking lot and family garden, we laid out the rooms across the site to secure two exterior spaces.

Multiple Viewpoint

Each room has different volume, finish, and openings.

These differences were made to enhance deeper experience with elements by presenting more than one viewpoint on each element; for example, when the light enters from wide opening, it gives you different impression from the thin ray of light in a dark place.

These elements can be trees in the garden, wind, internal openness, nuance of shadows, and communications between family members.

Connected Air

When opening the door, these rooms become "One single room with connections".

Although, unlike a general single room, it can not get a view of whole room, one room is visually connected with some and also connected with others beyond by air.

Communication is prompted among the viewable rooms by the strong connection of visual element, and with the rooms out of sight by the senses other than visual sense.

Subsequently, the light and wind streaming into a room, as well as the act and the sign of the family there are transmitted to the adjacent rooms, and are extended beyond.

Supplementary Architecture

The rooms expanded in the site functions as a house without being isolated functionally and spatially.  The important thing is that the rooms are connected.  The “connection” is formed by the persons and nature, and is not limited within the structure and the diagram of architecture.

I think that the architecture is something that acts as a supplement of the "connected air ".

Project detail informations

Project data

Location: Aichi, Japan
Site Area: 464.0m2
Built Area: 85.92m2
Total Floor Area: 85.92m2
Type of Construction: Wooden
Exterior Materials: Metal finish
Interior Materials: Lauan board 、paint finish
Year of completion: April, 2011
Design team: Katsutoshi Sasaki + Associates
Structure company  /  g2plan
Construction company / Sunshow industries ltd

Click above for larger image

Click above for larger image

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The roof of this house in Hashimoto, Japan, by designers Yoshio Oono Architect & Associates folds around to become an exterior canopy with triangular reveals.

Behind the shade of the orange canopy, the glazed facade of House of Wakayama has sliding doors that open to expose the interior spaces to the elements.

On the first floor an open plan room projects out across the building entrance to meet the canopy.

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The following project details are from the architect, as well as some text in Japanese:

Family House

location: wakayama
site area: 175.19 sqm
total area: 93.34 sqm

design development: 2009.4-2010.8
construction: 2010.8-2010.12

structure: wooden
structure engineer: HN

max. height: 6.04m
stories: 2

和歌山県橋本市の閑静な住宅地に建つ、夫婦とその子供達の専用住宅の計画である。

廻りには低層の住宅が立ち並び穏やかな風景が広がり、大きな空がよりいっそういっそう大きく感じられ、比較的身近に自然を感じられる敷地であった。

自然を出来るだけ生活空間へ取り込む事が設計の与条件として感じ取る事が出来た。

『内部と外部の境界線をあいまいとする。』

外の要素と内の要素を近ずける為に、建物で大きな軒下の日陰を作り、生活空間として最小限のエリアを建具で囲う事により

建具の開閉により内部と外部の境界線をあいまいにする事を考えた。

また、内部と外部の境界線をよりいっそう無くすよう、1階への柱をもうけないように、屋根から2階の床を細いスチールの柱により

吊り上げている。その柱は２階の空間へリズムを与える役割として存在している。

外壁においては、大きな風景として存在している、空の色と補色関係のオレンジ色とした。

補色の色関係による、相乗効果を狙ったものである。

See also:

.

House by Hidehiro Fukuda Architects	Ogaki House by Katsutoshi Sasaki	House in Fukawa by Suppose Design Office

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Architect & Associates appeared first on Dezeen.