Toru Yabashi Architectural Design Office 矢橋徹建築設計事務所

EZU House and Café

EZU House and Café 

Yabashi architects & associates

EZU House and Café
© Yashiro Photo Office

LEAD ARCHITECTS
Tohru Yabashi, Takumi Ueno

MANUFACTURERS
Bolts Hardware, Ykk Ap

STRUCTURE ENGINEERS
Kenchiku Syokudou

AREA
109 M²

YEAR
2023

LOCATION
Kumamoto, Japan

CATEGORY
Houses

EZU House and Café
© Yashiro Photo Office

The site is in a corner of a residential area developed along the lakeshore road. The site has a stepped terrain along the lakeside, and from the site, you can see the nearby gardens, the roofs of private houses, and the mountains in the distance.

An environment that stretches in each direction, dotted with views of varying distances.The plan is a two-story house with a cafe on the first floor. The owner plans to use it as a weekend residence for a while.

EZU House and Café
© Yashiro Photo Office
EZU House and Café
© Yashiro Photo Office

Therefore, we needed a space that could respond to changes without prescribing lifestyles. The owner will have two residences. One is a house that protects everyday life, and the other is an open villa.

A square plan was placed on the site, and the upper floors were divided diagonally.

EZU House and Café
© Yashiro Photo Office
EZU House and Café
© Yashiro Photo Office

By shifting the floor to increase the parameter with the ground and connecting it with a spiral vertical movement, we realized a three-layer structure that gives various viewpoints for each place.

Each floor has the minimum necessary functions, furniture, and plants, making it a "free space" that allows you to freely create spaces.

EZU House and Café
© Yashiro Photo Office
EZU House and Café
© Yashiro Photo Office

The retail area on the ground floor and the residential area on the upper floor are only fragmentarily separated by diagonal load-bearing walls. It is a continuous three-dimensional one-room.

In addition, to connect with the rich environment outside, it has a double structure that wraps the framework of earthquake-resistant elements with wind resistance and heat insulation and the outer skin of the opening.

EZU House and Café
© Yashiro Photo Office
EZU House and Café
© Yashiro Photo Office

There are no partitions between the spaces, so depending on your body position and movement, you may be able to see the sky or greenery through the windows on the next floor, or your line of sight may suddenly disappear.

It is a space where you can feel the richness of the place itself and the generosity of life. To put it in extreme terms, it's just a house assembled using tools such as floors, outer panels, and openings. But it becomes a tool for perceiving the environment as internal.

EZU House and Café
© Yashiro Photo Office
EZU House and Café
© Yashiro Photo Office


EZU House and Café
© Yashiro Photo Office
EZU House and Café
© Yashiro Photo Office
EZU House and Café
© Yashiro Photo Office
EZU House and Café
© Yashiro Photo Office
EZU House and Café
© Yashiro Photo Office
EZU House and Café
© Yashiro Photo Office
EZU House and Café
© Yashiro Photo Office


EZU House and Café
Plan - 2nd Floor
EZU House and Café
Plan - 1st Floor
EZU House and Café
Plan
EZU House and Café
Site


EZU House and Café
Section
EZU House and Café
Axis

Toru Yabashi Architectural Design Office 矢橋徹建築設計事務所
T +81 96 277 1891 F +81 96 277 1892
Toru Yabashi Architectural Design Office 矢橋徹建築設計事務所
304 Hayano Building, 45 Renpei-cho, Chuo-ku, Kumamoto-shi, Kumamoto 860-0017, Japan