Location: Gojo, Kyoto, Japan
Type of Project: Single family residence/ craft studio
Project Architects: EASTERN design office /// Anna Nakamura and Taiyo Jinno
Construction area: 140.2 m²
Total floor area: 259.8 m²
Year of Construction: 2007
House with Crest is located in the city of Gojo in Kyoto, Japan, where architects
Anna Nakamura and
Taiyo Jinno
of EASTERN design office reveal their talent through the design of this
house. EASTERN design office is based in Kyoto and acts in Japan and
China. The name of EASTERN implies "architects from the east". They
create architecture with "slit”, seeking a design possibility of
"slit". Slit is an architectural technique since ancient times; but
EASTERN sees "slit" as their design method to change the aspect of
contemporary architecture.
The house is located in a block of a typical division of the
traditional residential area in Kyoto. The façade of the house
overlooks a busy street of four meters wide, while the rear of house or
the eastern façade faces the high-rise buildings of 45 meter line up.
The neighboring houses are closely built in the south and the north of
the site.
The architects designed this contemporary minimalistic house for a single family, but the house also acts as a craft studio for
the client who is a traditional craftsman who puts the crest on Japanese traditional clothing.
The two story reinforced concrete construction occupies 140.2 square
meters (1,509 square feet). The ground floor is compromised of the shop
and ample parking area, a separate entrance with a staircase connects
to the house which compromises of a bedroom, a living area including
the kitchen and bathroom, a workroom and the void / exterior area. The
house has a different entrance than the shop through the parking lot.
According to the architects they "
lifted the one-story house to the sky" to create a calm interior space. It is lifted to 3m above ground level, while the space beneath it serves as a parking lot.
Once more in Japanese architecture we see that when entering or just
viewing the first floor plan, one notices a very straightforward house
with very few areas than what the average westerner needs. The kitchen
and living room are all in one, a workspace for the crest making has
been created at the western façade and a bedroom with only a closet is
found in the eastern side of the house. On the eastern side of the
house one finds a bathroom but the toilet is in a separate room; both
are accessible from the communal area.
The three main living areas _ living, workspace and bedroom are
semi-divided by the void / exterior which allows ample of natural light
to come into the house, but also gives the occupants the opportunity to
interact with the exterior environment. However, despite the exterior
which divides the areas, each area is accessible through an interior
hallway. The one-storied house which is lifted to the sky makes "two
outside spaces placed among three inside spaces". The wind and the
light of nature gather from the sky into two outside void spaces. And
that extends to three inside spaces. The arrangement of the spaces from
the western façade of the house to the eastern façade is in such an
order as "
inside - outside - inside - outside - inside". This arrangement of the space acts reciprocally and intermediately to unify the architecture.
Two street side walls overlap the shop entrance from right to left like
the breast of the Kimono. The "breast" interior becomes the shop area
and the circular holes that make the cross shape become a pattern which
decorate the wall as a crest. It is apparent that the occupation of the
owner was the inspiration to this house. The house is designed with the
circular holes which are used in crest-making. The 26 circular holes in
this cement house are lined up on a cross shape. They are used as
windows, allowing air and light to pass through while creating various
scenes and sequences at different times of the day. The occupants are
happy with the striking movement of the dramatic light while it
penetrates the house in an ever-changing motion. The light passing
through the circular windows is projected in a distorted yet
identifiable circular image, as it moves while it never stops.
Occasionally, it may disappear and yet it re-appears!
from yatzer
