- Object of the work This house /studio is on a site in a residential area in Sapporo, Hokkaido with access to the site via a 2m wide path leading from a residential street. The site is situated in an aging district and as such is rather quiet and has a calm atmosphere. As well as trying to blend comfortably into this old neighbourhood as a newcomer, we wanted to place a structure that does not say too much and imagined it would be a space where you can feel open and inclusive and not claustrophobic.
We then aimed to open up the house partly towards the empty areas around the site, thus the house would have a soft atmosphere from all the natural light.
The floor is 8.68 sq metres, which has a 4.5m tall box structure. The windows open up 2.1m-tall from the floor, keeping enough wall space to support the structure. Inside the house we made another box structure withmain facilities in it, which is not effected by the entire structure, and the rest of the space was left open for any purposes.
Because of the angle it was placed, the space between the box and the wall gives more places for people or things to stay and have more places to hang around. As most of the openings are on lower levels keeping the floor, the wall and the ceiling like blank canvases, the light diffuses. These blank canvases then reflect the outdoor views and the light around the space. This is a minimum space with minimum handling, but it is a box that can be flexible with changes and any purpose of use.
- Choice of materials Exterior walls: Yezo spruce and Sakhalin Fir grown in Hokkaido Interior: paint (white), structural plywood materials Floor: concrete
- Technological-structuralchoices Hokkaido has a high level of thermal insulation technology in wooden structures as well as techniques on window insulation. Retaining the necessary wall space to support the entire structure, windows are installed as much as they can in terms structural integrity. The openings are concentrated on lower levels, which block the blazing sun from higher areas in summer and keep the warmth ofthe sun from lower areas in winter. In this way, it enables the residents to save energy for the heating.
Thesite was on poor load-bearing soil and subsoil conditions, and we introduced the technique of replacing soil as a foundation solution as well as for insulation effects. The entire building is covered with insulation panels from under the foundations to the top of the roof, keeping insulation at the optimum level.
In winter it can get as cold as -10c in Sapporo, and by installing heating (4,500w in total) under the floor, the heat would be kept in the foundations and concrete floor underneath as well as providing part of the air duct, contributing towards air flow. The temperature is 22c measured at 1.2m height during the winter, 21.5c on the ceiling level, which gives an overall warm environment regardless of the total size of openings and the air volume of the house.
- Use of materials in respect of the context For a house that sits quietly in an old neighbourhood, we thought it would not be appropriate to use new materials. Yezo spruce and Sakhalin Fir were the choice of wood for the exterior walls, which have been left untouched for a long period in the local region. Inside the building, the walls and the ceiling were painted in glossy white so that they would reflect the light better even from the lower level. Concrete was chosen for the floor as it keeps the heat well from the heating installed under the floor.
