N12 House Abitazione

Press Kit

Unique Properties

Unlike other residential planning, this residence has a built in garage as an integral part of the design; expressing the owner's passion to his hobby. As the staircase ends to the large living room on the second floor, one can feel a sense of openness due to big windows on both sides of the room. By bringing the overall volume to the second floor, it is succeeded in realizing a beautifully balanced facade.

Dimensions & Packaging

The project site has an area of 556.05 sq. meter in which the first floor built up area is 83.73 sq. m. and second floor is 73.72 sq. m.; which is the optimum coverage following the building bye laws. The ceiling height is 3 meter for all the living spaces to create spacious feeling in open plan whereas for service area, it is 2.4 meter high and the edges are sloped at 1:10 ratio. The inclined walls for supporting the extended roof have created a sculptural form to this residence.

Tags

house, residence, modern, architecture, design, wood, japan, Architect Show

Production Technology

The boards of red cedar on the ceiling of interior space continue stretching to the sloping eaves of the terrace balcony, which depicts the spacious feelings while living either inside or outside the living space. In addition, the indirect lighting design has helped to create a warm and gentle living space.

Design Challenge

As Japan is a earthquake vulnerable country, it was enormously challenging to construct this building in terms of building regulations, structure and material. Specifically, the greater spans and larger extending roof were dealt successfully in this wooden structure. We did not follow the conventional wooden structure that is prevalent in Japan, rather we followed the Wooden frame surface rigidity method which is considered the appropriate method for constructing building stiff enough.

Research

In daily life, people put themselves in a space somewhere. Home, school, work, public institution, commercial facility and so on. In every space, how people see, experience and feel is of great importance. We base on people, harmonize every element, like function, things, environment to create a space and the style, and that is our job. We would love to keep creating the space that makes people's life more joyful and pleasant. We believe that the space becomes more attractive and valuable by people who can enjoy it and feel it.

Inspiration

There are mainly two leading ideas behind this building design. Firstly, the function of the building. The client's requirement to construct it as a second house where he can enjoy his quality time with his family and friends and also where he can showcase his car collection hobby, have greatly influenced to this design. Secondly, the project site is in the one of the most chaotic locations, so we attempted the structure opens out towards maximum outdoor views.

Project Duration

The project plan started in September 2017 in Fukuoka City and finished in April 2019 in Asakura City. During the planning phase, we had numerous meetings with associated parties and performed Computer graphics(CG) presentations four times for the client.

Operation Flow

Since this residence was planned as a getaway space, the main focus has been given in thinking 'how one can perceive relaxation in weekend house' and we came to the open plan concept. With this idea, a living room, a kitchen dining, and terrace balcony have been planned as a free space. Furthermore, the building opens out towards three directions (North, East and South where view of scenic beauty) that enhance residents a great pleasure of scenic beauty of the ambient environment.

Image Credits

Yousuke Harigane