A giant light volume erupts from the ground of Hiroshima, Japan. House in Tousuien serves both as a home and domestic museum for an avid collector of motorcycles and his family of four. We’re talking about a three-story building with a total floor area of 208sqm completely covered in translucent panels. The outcome couldn’t be more impressive: an inhabitable lantern that glows its warm light through the entire neighborhood.
A prefab way of thinking seems to be the starting point to this exquisite project: a metal frame structure and overhanging concrete floor planes contributed for a fast and easy constructive process.
The distribution of the program also presents a clear organization: the ground floor is composed by a large parking space for motorcycles, with space for a vehicle on the exterior as the house is set back four meters from the street.
The entrance hall accommodates a space for bicycles and a metallic staircase that gives access to the upper level. The first floor contains the social program – kitchen, dining and living rooms – located partially within a concrete core that hides all the mechanical and plumbing systems. Three bedrooms and a bathroom complete the last floor of House in Tousuien.
The corrugations of the translucent panels offer a sense of transparency while maintaining a certain level of privacy and keeping the interior constantly illuminated by natural diffused light, with operable windows to provide ventilation. The steel structure has been left totally exposed inside the house, painted in white in order to contrast with the exposed concrete of the ceilings and also with the wood flooring.
Architects: Suppose Design Office
Photography: Toshiyuki Yano
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