This wooden house project is located on a site between the Entsu-ji Temple (built in 1678) and Mt. Hieizan in Kyoto, Japan. Inspired by the artwork Toshikuru by Japanese painting master Kaii Higashiyama, the goal was to create the look of both a single building as well as a townscape through the use of several roofs.
Under the floating "Four Roofs,” various sized living spaces are lined up in echelon form. Cypress and cedar from Kyoto composed a big-boned, half-timbered framework that continues to the eaves and gives the home an identity. An outer wall is well-combed mortar crafted by hand, representing a sense of delicacy by enclosing a window with cedar board.
Residents can feel the essence of Kyoto everywhere in the house through the range of the gable roof, the deep eaves, slanted axis, echelon form, local materials, and handcrafted outer wall. The home also uses Shakkei, which means to make use of a beautiful surrounding landscape in the distance or of the neighborhood trees in the layout or design of a garden. In this case it was Hieizan, a mountain to the northeast of Kyoto.
This house was designed to maintain the beauty of both the dwelling itself and the townscape as the years pass.
Location : Kyoto City, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan
Structure : Wood
Contractor : Kyoto Kensetsu
Site Area: 301.52 sqm
Foot Prints: 109.87 sqm
Total Floor Area: 160.28 sqm
Year: 2012
Photographs: Toshiyuki Yano