Kataokamachi

The site is located in a quiet organized residential area in the suburb of Takasaki. The area is 793.39 m² (240 tsubo) and large enough for a residence, but is not large enough to ignore the relationship to the surroundings. There are houses, an apartment house, and a big drugstore in the surrounding area, and on the rooftop of a four-story old business hotel is a rusted signboard that mars the beauty. Apart from concerns over privacy that should be secured from neighbors or other negative elements near the site, a huge tree in the children’s park across the road on the south side blooms beautiful flowers in spring.
I started to make a plan with a floor area of 264.46 m² (80 tsubo) due to the required rooms and budget. Even with a one-story house, two-thirds of the site (528.93 m², 160 tsubo) was supposed to be a vacant lot. I thought the key to creating a comfortable living environment was how the inside of the building (264.46 m² [80 tsubo]) and the outside vacant lot (528.93 m² [160 tsubo]) could be related in a good balance while adjusting the various relationships to the surroundings. So, I came across the idea of L-shape buildings that enclosed a certain area of the vacant lot. An L-shape building helps to create not only a close relationship between the enclosed vacant lot and the inside of the building but also adjusts the relationship to the surroundings by selecting the direction of closing and opening. I did the zoning and divided into three zones with the different characteristics of a public zone, private zone, and a children and hobby zone. Thus, the house is composed of three different characteristic L-shape buildings. The vacant lot cut out by three L-shapes created the various expressions of a bright grass garden, a deck garden connected to the room, and a calm garden composed of stone and plant on the north side. Also, I adjusted the relationship to the surroundings by making the layout three L-shapes to block the eyes, hiding unfavorable things from the perspective of beauty, and incorporating a cherry tree in the park based on the surrounding conditions. By dividing three L-shape buildings and assembling them, space is produced here and there outside, shadows are created, and the depth of an echelon structure is created.
The structure of assembling three L-shapes creates a variety of different expressions on the entire site. I think because of this structure, the inside and the outside are equal without any master-slave relationship, and the diverse and rich space can be vividly felt throughout the site.

use: House
structure: Wooden, 1 stories
site area: 783.26m²
total floor: 319.77m²