Located in Toyota in Aichi Prefecture, the black wooden house is arranged between two frames at either end, one vertical and the other horizontal.

The frames create a sloping roof and walls between them as the two-storey entrance diminishes to a single storey at the rear.

A series of wooden frames have been arranged throughout the interior as freestanding doorways.

At the lower end of the house is the main living area with full-length sliding windows looking out onto a train track.

The upper floor contains two bedrooms and loft space for another bed, as well as a terrace overlooking the entrance.

Other projects by Katsutoshi Sasaki + Associates we've featured on Dezeen include a house with sliding doors between each room and a house with a triangular facade.

See more stories about Katsutoshi Sasaki + Associates »

Photographs are by Katsutoshi Sasaki + Associates.

Here's some more text from the architects:

Project introduction:

Site: As the surrounding of a site, a residence stands in a row in the north-and-south side, and the east-and-west side is a place where a comparatively good field of view.

Frame (outside): For this site which has good view, we put two “frames”. One is vertical frame at east. The other is horizontal frame at west.

The space consists of connecting the two frames. It's a space horizontally opened while reducing height gradually and a space vertically opened while reducing a plan gradually. The “one room” is expanding vertically and horizontally.

One room: I have an idea that the residence should be one room. However, the monotonous one room which can see the whole feels in many cases that there are few choices of an air and a life. So we have made “one room” which can connect family without seeing directly.

We proposed preparing "the boundary of air” connecting good fields of view in the east-and-west and gaining depth and density to the space.

Frame (inside): Concretely, we use wooden frame which use auxiliary as window or door frame. We think wooden frame itself takes a part of specifying space boundary.

It is distinguished as somewhere else at the same time the space before and behind that is connected because there is a wooden frame. It is constituted as space with moderate tolerance.

Project details
Location: Toyota Aichi Japan
Site Area: 466.49m2
Built Area: 74.52m2
Total Floor Area: 83.48m2
Type of Construction: wooden
Exterior Materials: wooden boards + oil paint finish
Interior Materials: paint finish

Design time: September 2010 - September 2011
Date of completion： July 2012
Design team: Katsutoshi Sasaki + Associates
Structure company: Tatsumi Terado Structural Studio
Construction company: Toyonaka Construction Ltd

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Katsutoshi Sasaki + Associates appeared first on Dezeen.

Japanese architects Katsutoshi Sasaki + Associates have completed a four-winged house in Toyota.

The metal facade of the Oshikamo house conceals a timber interior and two sheltered courtyards.

Skylights between exposed rafters let natural light into an open-plan living room at the centre of the house.

Ladders climb up into loft bedrooms in two of the wings, above a third bedroom and a large walk-in closet.

The third remaining wing contains washrooms, while a space used for quiet contemplation occupies the fourth.

This is the third house by Katsutoshi Sasaki + Associates featured on Dezeen - see our earlier stories about one with rooms in separate blocks and another shaped like a triangle.

Photography is by Toshiyuki Yano.

Here's a little more text from Katsutoshi Sasaki:

Oshikamo

Prerequisite

The lot is located in a residential area and is surrounded by neighboring housings, with a mother's house on its west.

Requests for the house include: encourages the family to spend time together (rather than isolating anyone) / spatial / bright with plenty of natural light.

Plot

The family space is arranged at the center of the site.

The private space is arranged at the edge of the site, and they connect gradually by the one volume.

Distance among rooms and curved spaces provide adequate privacy.

Each rooms are indistinctly connected to each other via central space.

Indistinct

That indistinct connection is the key concept of this house, expressing the spatial relationship (not on/off relationship) among the rooms. Like a photo out of focus.

Invisible one room

You can grasp the space visually if the entire space is visible.

You can let your consciousness develop the space if not all is visible. Like walking in a path, not sure of what is ahead.

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Ambiguously

Spaces divided by straight lines relate to rationally. Spaces connected with curving lines relate to ambiguously. 
Like a drop of milk in coffee.

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Connection

What interests us is how rooms connect to each other, more than how a room is made.
What interests us is the “air” that curves, crosses, and diffracts. Like a cloud, constantly moving without having definite shape.

Location: Toyota Aichi Japan
Site Area: 191.71m2
Built Area: 84.18m2
Total Floor Area: 101.94m2

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Type of Construction: Wooden
Exterior Materials: Metal finish
Interior Materials: paint finish

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Design time: June 2010 - February 2011
Year of completion: September, 2011

Design team: Katsutoshi Sasaki + Associates
Structure company: Masaki structural laboratory
Construction company: Inoue construction Ltd

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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.

More Japanese houses on Dezeen »

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

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This triangular house poking out of the ground in Gifu, Japan, is by Japanese studio Katsutoshi Sasaki + Associates.

Called Ogaki House, all the windows and doors of the interior spaces are oriented towards a mini courtyard at the centre of the residence.

A bedroom, living area, pool and bathroom are located on the ground floor, with a further two bedrooms in the eaves of the upper level.

The shape of the house is dictated by the strong winds in the area as the triangle shape of the building reduces loads imposed on the structure.

The open central space allows natural ventilation, essential during the summer months.

Wooden grills on the floor of an open-plan loft room allows views down to the floor below.

Photographs are by Toshiyuki Yano.

More residential architecture on Dezeen »

The following information is from the architects:

This residential house is introduced from the ambient surrounding and the conditions of site planning.

In winter seasons, the strong west wind (the fall wind of Ibuki) blows in this area so it is the plan of suppressing the load of the building by extending its roof up to the close to the ground soil and fending off cold winds at the roof.

In summer seasons, it is the structure that discharges the accumulated heat inside to the outside through the VOID of the inner court and the central VOID installed various parts.

The openings face only to the courtyards in the east and west of the site and there is none in the north and south.

This way heat penetration in summer and heat loss in winter via the openings can be controlled.

Living rooms and patios are arranged in turn inside the triangle volume, which makes an explicit proposal about closeness between life and nature.

However, the most important feature in the house design should be how communication among family members can be assured.

For that matter, the design has many elements to encourage communication; for example, a kitchen facing the entrance (to provide an opportunity for a mother to meet her children when they come home), a children's room spreading throughout the second floor (four daughters share it), and an open ceiling space (a louver type floor) which the voices of family members can get through.

Considering the site context, external elements, heat environment, family communication, structure plan and cost, I decided to select a triangle design.

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Project information

Location: Gifu Japan
Site Area: 130.64m2
Built Area: 74.54m2

Total Floor Area: 106.42m2
Type of Construction: Wooden
Exterior Materials: Wood siding

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Interior Materials: Lauan board
year of completion ：July, 2010
Design team: Katsutoshi Sasaki + Associates

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Structure company / Masaki structural laboratory
Construction company / Tamada construction Ltd

See also:

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House in Fukawa by Suppose Design Office	Stairs-House by y+M Design Office	Belly House by Tomohiro Hata

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