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Sumit Singhal
Sumit Singhal loves modern architecture. He comes from a family of builders who have built more than 20 projects in the last ten years near Delhi in India. He has recently started writing about the architectural projects that catch his imagination. ８HOUSE in Tokyo, Japan by arbolApril 8th, 2019 by Sumit Singhal
Article source: arbol The site is located in Nerima-ku, Tokyo, a little away at the end of a crowded shopping street. Originally, the site was owned by the father-in-law of the client, who ran a business there. At the timing of his retirement, the client was considering moving from the previous home, and a family meeting was held. After that, as another way of using the site, they decided that they had the house remodeled to a two-family houses. Furthermore, the site is 25 tsubo (about 83㎡), category 1 exclusive districts for low-rise residential buildings is applied, building coverage ratio is 50%, it’s in quasi-fire prevention districts, and a parking space for father and mother-in-law is required.  Image Courtesy © Hiroshi Ueda
 Image Courtesy © Hiroshi Ueda The client himself, also runs a business, he has a exclusively great taste for design, because of his work especially, therefore as discussions were held at many times, the images of a vintage element in America West Coast, or a sophisticated atmosphere which has a nature essence, simple, plain and efficient Bauhaus in Germany were risen. With this background, the plan of a two-family houses with a compact garage for 8 residents for 2 family started. Firstly, pillars and beams are set like a jungle gym (2.5m×1.6m at regular intervals horizontally, depth 5 squares×width 3 squares, 2 layers), to the extent that the whole site is filled with them. The simple, durable grid design is one of the concepts, and it lead to the plan to be organized among the difficult requirements, with expanding the floor space as long as the legal terms and costs were allowed.  Image Courtesy © Hiroshi Ueda  Image Courtesy © Hiroshi Ueda At the corner of the south-west side where the frontage faces the road, a garage and a terraceare set, as they are circling the house, and at the opposite side of the north-east side, a courtyard is engraved, so that the house is faced with two-side of the outer spaces, in spite of the limited site. For about space structure, the back of the garage is an entrance for two-family-use, and from the entrance, there’re three doors, one for the1stfloor, which is father and mother-in-law space, one for the stairs to the 2ndfloor, which is the client family area, and finally, one to the shared bathroom. At the 1stfloor, a dining room is centered, and a plan of the least waste of the spare space for the best convenience and comfort is chosen, plus Japanese-style room, Western-style room, toilet, cloak, courtyard are set in a way of Japanese-modern style. At the 2ndfloor, a living dining room space is set as large as possible, and the main bed room, children room, toilet, terrace are placed, with the aim of architecturally simple placement, so that the interior design is shined.  Image Courtesy © Hiroshi Ueda  Image Courtesy © Hiroshi Ueda As for design and materials, the whole picture is designed to be looked nice and simple, firstly by setting equipment which are kitchen, laundry space, and air conditioner on the west side wall, secondly by aligning the line of laying a floor, wall, furniture, lighting fixtures, thirdly by setting custom-made metal window frames, and finally, for the main interior design of this house, by placing a recycled wood dining table which is about 3m long. As the client says “I can drink, watching and enjoying the table.”, the good old re-used wood table well matches the outside greenery which is seen through the windows, and it creates a comfortable atmosphere. The space between the table and the terrace, can be used as a living room, as the enough space is placed, and movies and TV can be viewed with family members, as a projector is projected on the stair wall, along with two speakers which are set under the ceiling. With an assumption that the family members would spend time together a lot in the living dining room, the sizes of the main bed room and the children room are as minimum as possible, and the children room is divided into two spaces vertically, like a little hidden place. Exterior walls are covered with wave-shaped galvalume plates, the pillars and the beams as well, the corner sides are finished without decoration of roofing tiles.  Image Courtesy © Hiroshi Ueda  Image Courtesy © Hiroshi Ueda Regarding the protection of overseeing from the outside in the terrace and the courtyard, by selecting simple, light, durable tent fabric which are used in sports facilities, or public sidewalk eaves, it gives full consideration of the both privacy protection and daylighting, and warm, kind atmosphere, even though the galvalume plates can be looked sharp and cold. The scenery from the terrace is only sky, therefore it produces a comfortable private space beautifully. The client is planning to set up a tent or a tarp, and have a barbeque, saying “I could enjoy outside activities in my urban home, without going out.” The exterior space which can be seen as two places on the diagonal line, creates a unique open flavor, as it is not only the space bigness, and synergistic relationships, but by the jungle-gym-like frame, the same height pillars are set in and out at regular intervals, the terrace, the courtyard and the inside rooms look borderless. About gardening in the courtyard and a part of the garage, evergreen trees are planted for overseeing protection, and in order to feel the change of seasons, acer sieboldianum, one of the deciduous trees, for enjoying autumn leaves, fraxinus lanuginosa for spring white flower, and blueberry trees are also planted.  Image Courtesy © Hiroshi Ueda  Image Courtesy © Hiroshi Ueda As for lighting, the bright sunlight from the south side shines through the terrace, a gentle light from the edge of the eaves illuminates the inside rooms, a reflected light from the north side wall in the courtyard scatters softly, these elements harmonizes the architecture perfectly, and produces rich lightness. By contrast, the entrance has a shadowed sophisticated atmosphere, therefore there is a rhythm of light and shadow as a whole. The floor of the entrance is finished with mortar, and its shape is a half-circle, so that a beam of light from the ceiling illuminates the taken-off shoes of the family members, as if warmly welcoming their return to home.  Image Courtesy © Hiroshi Ueda  Image Courtesy © Hiroshi Ueda About indoor thermal environment, taking the effect of adjusting humidity and appearance into consideration, wall and ceiling are finished with stucco material. Sprayed rigid urethane foam for wooden house is selected as insulation material, and multi-layer glasses (including Argon gas, Low-E) are set on window frames for higher insulation. Additionally, Type 2 Ventilation system, which is open air is filtrated through a filter, is adopted, therefore, fresh clean air is circulated through the entire house smoothly. The client says, “I have installed an air-conditioner, which capacity is equal to the size of the house, but the temperature setting is only 20℃, air volume setting is “Seihu”, which is the weakest setting, but the room is warm and comfortable.” (as of December, 2018).  Image Courtesy © Hiroshi Ueda  Image Courtesy © Hiroshi Ueda This plan is created by pursing what the primary sense of value is, and with the design of the jungle-gym-like frame, the relationships among the family members, and the exterior environments are flexibly weaved into the concept. This frame looks 8 figure horizontally, this is intentionally set, because 8 is a lucky number in Japan, and wishing that the client would have a better opportunities, live long in good shape with his family.  Image Courtesy © arbol  Image Courtesy © arbol
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