House in Megamiyama

This house is located on a plateau relatively near the city center. Although residential development began here about fifty years ago, it is still surrounded by abundant green areas. The home that was built on this site during that era had become dilapidated, and when the younger generation took over, they decided o tear it down and rebuild.

The client was born and raised here and felt strongly attached to the community. For that reason, we left largely unchanged the existing exterior elements and approach on the street side, which form the contact points with the community. This determined the location of the entryway. The old house had been crowded to one side of the large property, with a poorly utilized garden and exterior margin taking up the rest of the space. One goal of the new design was to resolve this problem and make effective use of the entire property.    

Since the views from the plateau improve the further one moves toward the back of the property, we located the living room, where the family spends the most time, in this area. The rest of the house is spread over the property as a series of interconnected, vertically and horizontally staggered volumes of varying sizes. In order to connect the courtyard surrounded by these volumes and the exterior space left in place on the south side of the property, we raised the intervening volumes on pilotis, creating a three-dimensional intersection of interior and exterior spaces.

The volumes are linked together by a gently sloping roof that resembles a single brushstroke. As a result, one is aware of the next space and is pulled inward to the back of the property. The roof has broad eaves that create a variety of sheltered spaces. These diverse interior and exterior areas inspire different images of use for each resident, an irreplaceable feature for a family that plans to use the home for many years to come. 

Data

Location : Nishinomiya-shi, Hyogo, JAPAN

Use : House

Architect : Shogo ARATANi Archotect & Associates

Consultant : S3A Associates Inc.

General contractor : Fuyo Kensetsu, Sanyo Kensetsu Kogyo

Structural system : timber flame

Site area : 874.20m2

Building area : 237.15m2

Total floor area : 166.98m2

Photo : Shigeo Ogawa