House in Tsubaki

Tokyo, Japan

Add To Collection

Other Projects by PANDA - Person and Architecture

Add To Collection

House in Tsubaki

Tokyo, Japan

Firm

PANDA - Person and Architecture

Type

Residential › Private House

STATUS

Built

YEAR

2014

SIZE

5000 sqft - 10,000 sqft

The site is located in a residential district, which is easily accessible from a principal
road. It is a so-called “flagpole-shaped site,” meaning that the rectangular site is located at some distance from the public road and linked to it by a long and narrow path. The site is surrounded by two- and three-story buildings on the four sides.

The client requested an indoor garage so that he can enjoy looking at his beloved car
from living room and also an inclined roof with solar panels. We decided to build a one-story wood house because of two reasons; the floor area requested by the client was relatively small in comparison to the site area and the allowable bearing capacity of the ground soil was low because the land had been used for farming and therefore the building had to be lightweight with a relatively large building area.

Our biggest challenge was to provide natural light inside the one-story house and also to
ensure enough solar energy on the roof, within the congested condition surrounded by
two- and three-story buildings. It was also essential to design the house in harmony
with the surrounding townscape. Therefore the roof design became the key to our
proposal, and we start our design from there.

The roof is composed of a combination of the traditional Japanese-style inclined roof
and the flat roof, which is a typical modern architecture style. The size of the pitched roof was determined by the number of solar panels required to generate sufficient energy to serve this house, and it was installed at the center of the site to avoid shadows of the surrounding buildings. The ceiling follows the inclination of the roof. The roof structure is raised above the equally spaced columns, which are built on top of the flat-roofed volumes on the east and the west sides.

From the interior space, the residents can enjoy the unobstructed view of the sky
through the openings between the inclined roof and the flat roof on both sides. Seen
from outside, the inclined roof leans on the simple and horizontal volumes on both sides,
and each of the three areas is allocated for different functions of the house.

Architects : PANDA www.panda-ky.com
Location: Tokyo,Japan
Architect in Charge: Kozo Yamamoto, Shinji Ikeda
Contractor: AZ Construction
Total Floor Area: 94.81 sqm
Building Area: 94.81sqm
Year: 2014
Photographer: Koichi Torimura