HOUSE IN ATSUGI
Masashi Kikkawa + Hisashi Ikeda
PHOTOGRAPHS
Kikkawa Architects
MANUFACTURERS
Carl Hansen, Akari (Isamu Noguchi), Tamiya
AREA
128 M²
YEAR
2014
LOCATION
Japan
CATEGORY
Houses
Text description provided by architect.
The site is located in the suburb of Tokyo. In the old days, there were many farmhouses that life of people and nature were closely connected to each other. The owner’s family has been engaged in agriculture since ancient times.
However, with a transition of lifestyles, farmhouse was replaced with the standardized housing that has no relevance to agriculture. We re-built a modern farmhouse in harmony with nature, aiming to create a pleasant house.
In spite of rapid urban development, we thought rural environment, that has been slightly left out brings a pleasant living environment to this house. The house was placed in a quiet location, away from the main street, to live calmly.
The exterior elevation is a simple form, as it is quietly placed in the field, and it has an easy atmosphere in harmony with the landscape. This simple form resembles the memory of the old farmhouse (thatched roof house) that owners lived in their childhood.
The plan is basically one-room, the owner couple can live feeling the presence of each other. All rooms can be divided freely with sliding doors, which allow the space to be a spacious openness or with confined calmness.
In addition, so that the internal space is continuous with the landscape, we set up a large window (width 12.6m) on the south side. This window lets through the cool breeze in summer, brings warm sun light in winter. As a result, the house feels the transience of nature.
The maximum ceiling height in the living room is about 4.8m, which holds a feeling of openness of the surrounding landscape.
In order to create a calm space, it was closer to space to physical scale. For example, the living room ceiling height comes down to about 2.4m along the steep roof, and the height of all the opening is 1.8m, and placed a low height furniture.
Two of comfort, such as openness and calmness are attempted to be established at the same time. We have tried to make connections, such as nature and people, people and people. And we wanted to create a space in which everyone feels comfortable.
