House of Setouchi

■Location-optimized Design
The land is located on the south coast, commanding a panoramic view of the island-dotted Seto Inland Sea.To the north is Mt. Fudekage in Seto Inland National Park. Situated on a 3 meter high retaining wall, the land is one story higher than the other residences in the neighborhood, thus there is nothing to interfere with the view from the second floor. In order to optimize the house for the surroundings, we designed a concrete enclosure on the first floor, and above it, made a transparent living, dining and kitchen area which affords a 360 degree horizontal view.
■360° view: "living in the landscape"
The site is surrounded by an abundance of nature. Birdsong can be heard from the woods, and ships can be observed sailing on the sea. In contrast to the hustle and bustle of city life, here even time seems pass slowly. The continuous, 360-degree horizontal window frames the picturesque scenery and the slow passage of time through the landscape. Through the uninterrupted sweep of the window, sunlight continuously changes the atmosphere of the room. The windowsill, at 30cm high, is designed to be used as seating. Residents are free to pick a spot from which to enjoy their favorite view. One can easily spend a day admiring the view from one side or another as the day progresses. To relax by this window is to abandon oneself to a moment of luxurious tranquility, so different from the hectic life of the city.
■Details
To enhance the impact of the panoramic ocean view, we focused on simple design, yet avoided the usual structures which would disrupt the continuity of the view. The deep windowsill and the wooden trim above the windows hide the window sashes, making each window a simple opening. Shoji - sliding screens of wooden latticework and Japanese paper - are used instead of curtains. Unlike the common horizontally-sliding screens, which need storage space when open and would disrupt the view, we used box-head sliding screens which slide vertically upwards, out of sight, to maintain the perfect 360-degree opening.