Imagine a house which consists of several houses and several yards… A house imagined by a child or a child’s perception of an environment… A house as an accumulation of different spaces for living… My answer is YES!
A house which enables you to choose in which space you would like to be. A house that feels you, accompanies you as a supportive friend, plays to your tune..
This architectural concept was inspired by the Mebius House in Kanagawa, Japan. The house is situated on quite a picturesque hilly place, surrounded by trees. The landscape of the plot is rather active, however the architects tried to use that to their advantage.
The house is a closed complex of blocks with open spaces inside. The entrance is created as a void in the ground floor level. The first floor above the void is supported by slim metal columns, put in an irregular order. This contrasts with the solid volumes, cladded with wooden boards.
Instantly you get intrigued by the inner yard, which can be glanced upon behind the columns: you see that there’s lots of stuff going on there – the building blocks are situated like they are different buildings, the outline and the level of roofs are different, the facade material changes from wooden cladding to white coating, while stairs lead somewhere.. You get slightly bewildered, thinking: “perhaps this is not a private house. It could be the property of several families..”
Then you leave the breathtaking entrance zone and move towards the yard. The feeling of curiosity gets to you. Your mind going: “Look, what a cute corner over there! Oh, I should go and check out this part of the building! Oh, cunningly done – the natural relief quotation in the interior of the yard! Is there actually an exit in the opposite part of this “town”, towards the forest? ….” and so on.
The architects say “Our aim was to provide a place where one had a multiplicity of spatial choice depending on the seasons, the different time of day, the particular activity, or what mood one is in. “
– and I believe they succeeded.
Japanese architecture is simply beautiful, clean, and overwhelming all at once. The beauty of the simplicity is amazing and I’m glad that more people are looking in Japanese architecture. We just featured Takeshi Hamada on our website: http://www.livelymag.com! The architecture is quite similar, you may be interested in Hamada’s work.
That’s great. We’ve been trying to promote Japanese architecture for quite some time now, and I must say it’s starting to pick up already.
Glad you like it!