Article source: Yasuyuki ITO / C+A Coelacanth and Associates
This core community building in the Kozakai district of Toyokawa contains a community center, library, children’s center, and city hall branch office. The design was selected in a 2017 competition. The spatial appeal of a mixed-use buildings such as this comes largely from its handling of common areas. While individual spaces such as the meeting rooms, music studio, event hall, and kitchen are of course also important, it is the natural overflow of sounds, sights, and other hints of activity into the common areas that gives the facility as a whole its vibrancy.
The project site locates along Chiba-Kaido Avenue in the historical part of Nishifunabashi, Chiba, near the Sengen Shrine on the hill with lush pine forests. The client, an art collector operating a real estate business, planned to build a new building on his parents’ property to accommodate his family’s residence and his company’s galleries & offices. Besides his parents’ house on the northern end of the property, most areas of the linear site closer to the road were relatively unplanned, with an old warehouse building and car parks mixed in the lush vegetation. Thus, our first approach was to organize the entire site so that the two families’ lives and the workspaces coexist comfortably, arranging site circulation and developing a sloped garden moderating the level differences between the two buildings. The new building accommodates garages in the middle of GF and the residence on the quiet northern side facing the garden. The galleries & offices are vertically consolidated on the southern side towards the national road to be the main face of the building. Interpreting the client’s visions to this place, such as cultural commitment to the neighborhoods, attraction to external visitors, and utilization of suburban potentials, we aimed to incorporate publicness and versatility into the new building together with attractive design, like ‘museum with a house’ rather than ‘house with galleries.’
This is the project for a residence on the mountain slope with incredible ocean views including the view of Mt. Fuji.
Looking at the site context, it is not possible to have a view of the sea from the 1st floor level, 2nd floor level has ocean view but not easy to keep privacy from the back street, and only 3rd floor level has full ocean view. According to the site condition each floor is designed differently. The 1st floor has minimum floor area with de-formed concrete columns to create diagonal movement for enjoying outside activities, the 2nd floor has bedrooms like concrete shells and the 3rd floor has maximum floor area by cantilever with light weight wooden structure. Then the 3rd floor has a panoramic ocean view as the main space of the house.
The private house for the family of four which is located in residential area in Japan.
We create a generous outline by erecting an translucent polycarbonate enclosure along the property to separate it from the surrounding areas and making it float in the air. The floating enclose creates separation, but since it floats, the house itself is still connected to the surrounding environment.
This project started with a couple who wanted to rebuild their old residence, which they had lived over 70 years. The couple requested us to build a single-story house with a bright dining kitchen, 3 parking spaces, and a vegetable garden.
The site, located in the northern part of Hiroshima City, is surrounded by two-story houses with several medium- to high-rise apartment buildings. We assumed that the requested volume of a single-story house would be difficult to adapt with its surroundings in the context, so we attempted to set up a volume on the same scale as the surrounding building and then cut the unnecessary parts out of the volume.
Sitting on the hillside beside the street running towards Mountain Fuji from Gotemba, Shizuoka, the Reception annex greets visitors to hotel lodges spreading out on the wide landscape.
The area, called Takane, is part of a huge forest where a small stream is murmuring along with a very close and clear view of Mt. Fuji to the west. Despite its huge natural background, this site is still quite easy to access from the city center, located only 15-minute-drive away from the central area of Gotemba city and convenient to reach from the nearest highway interchange as well. The client has been planning to organize accommodation facilities in this area, and a main management annex was required to set up a welcome spot as an entrance to the entire project.
Known for its beautiful archipelago of some 700 islands, Japan’s Setonaikai (Seto Inland Sea), is the largest waterway of its type in the country. Located in the center of the sea, Onomichi is surrounded by the Onomichi Channel, a key historic point for maritime traffic, and by a trio of mountains home to ancient temples. Used as a setting for many literary works and movies, the area’s scenery has more recently been recognized as a Japan Heritage Site. It has also become a mecca for cyclists, and attracts both domestic and overseas interest.
Aquaphotomics is a field of science that investigates water spectral patterns as a source of holistic information for biological and aqueous systems. The Yunosato facility is an Aquaphotomics research laboratory where the interplay of water and light are explored.
The entry sequence is a transition from familiar rectilinear forms to more fluid and lofty curves that open up towards the view of Mount Koya, a world heritage temple settlement site and holy center of esoteric Buddhism in Japan.
The KUGENUMA-Y House is located close to the sea in Shonan. It is a house with a simple structure, including a 5-storey Raw Concrete and a 6-storey steel slope of 150 m full length.
The first thing the owner asked of the architects was the 15 m height of the house, which could be accessible no matter what. The owner’s general way of life and the determination to live near the sea was therefore considered. A striking, light, and generous architecture that embodies the desired way of living for this owner was the appropriate design direction. Additionally, in that area near the sea, the architecture needed to be strong enough to survive. It was accordingly felt that the building needed to be bold enough.