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O House
O House
Tokyo, Japan
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O House
Tokyo, Japan
Firm
Type
STATUS
Built
YEAR
2009
SIZE
0 sqft - 1000 sqft
BUDGET
Undisclosed
A three-story house for a nuclear family. The site is situated near a noisy main road and surrounded by small office buildings and dwellings.
The project, O House, is a case study to create a residential environment in a crowded urban area, like a symbol of the current ‘information junk’ world. All the noises of the surrounding are blocked up by outer walls first, and only selected values are re-introduced through the openings, reorganizing sensible relations with the outside.
To ensure privacy and noise reduction, massive polished plaster walls were set out first. Then openings were clipped out to gain natural light, wind, view of sky and an adjoining garden. The main area, comprised of living, dining, kitchen and atelier, is secured on the first floor and open to a private terrace surrounded by the plaster wall and louvers. The second floor, white box slid from the lower mass, is a solution to reduce impacts to neighboring sites due to the shadow and volume.
While the appearance creating an identity in a builtup area gives a hard impression, the interior is naturally lit and comprised of open plan layouts. The deliberate window allocation is in view of physical circulation, composition, and comfortableness rather than aesthetic motive for the façade itself. In fact, once residents enter the house, they are always directed into rooms by natural light filtering in wherever they are. All the internal doors are full height sliding doors and unify all the rooms spatially and thermally when they are open.
Design vocabulary adopted as a tool to communicate with the client is simple and plain. However, while the scheme is developed logically in this way, a contrasting approach was taken for the detail of finishes. That is, the ‘uneven texture’ of polished plaster, glaze on porcelain tiles, screed, oil stain, etc. The synergetic effect of the light and the uneven texture details in contrast with the minimal composi-tion create ‘complexity in simplicity’. Thanks to the connotation of such contrastive components, this house produces ‘coziness’ while simultaneously being contemporary.
Photo credit: Makoto Yasuda
The project, O House, is a case study to create a residential environment in a crowded urban area, like a symbol of the current ‘information junk’ world. All the noises of the surrounding are blocked up by outer walls first, and only selected values are re-introduced through the openings, reorganizing sensible relations with the outside.
To ensure privacy and noise reduction, massive polished plaster walls were set out first. Then openings were clipped out to gain natural light, wind, view of sky and an adjoining garden. The main area, comprised of living, dining, kitchen and atelier, is secured on the first floor and open to a private terrace surrounded by the plaster wall and louvers. The second floor, white box slid from the lower mass, is a solution to reduce impacts to neighboring sites due to the shadow and volume.
While the appearance creating an identity in a builtup area gives a hard impression, the interior is naturally lit and comprised of open plan layouts. The deliberate window allocation is in view of physical circulation, composition, and comfortableness rather than aesthetic motive for the façade itself. In fact, once residents enter the house, they are always directed into rooms by natural light filtering in wherever they are. All the internal doors are full height sliding doors and unify all the rooms spatially and thermally when they are open.
Design vocabulary adopted as a tool to communicate with the client is simple and plain. However, while the scheme is developed logically in this way, a contrasting approach was taken for the detail of finishes. That is, the ‘uneven texture’ of polished plaster, glaze on porcelain tiles, screed, oil stain, etc. The synergetic effect of the light and the uneven texture details in contrast with the minimal composi-tion create ‘complexity in simplicity’. Thanks to the connotation of such contrastive components, this house produces ‘coziness’ while simultaneously being contemporary.
Photo credit: Makoto Yasuda
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