The location of the house is situated in a commercial district of a small provincial city in Shikoku region. A state of the site was far from a setting we generally imagine from the word ‘countryside’. The ground was covered by asphalt, surroundings were blocked by buildings and even movements of wind and paths of light were lost.
The client was proud that his family business has long been lasting on the site and wished to live on the locale. We attempted to find the slightest breath of nature left on the site and infiltrate a sense of nature in the every corner of the space and to the bottom of mind, bearing in mind the client’s will to spend the rest of their lives here.
A sheet of white abstract concrete slab is folded so as to gently and loosely wrap space. Wall to wall, roof to wall, roof to roof, in and out are left unclosed in order not to cut off openness and fluidity. Wind and light that come through the gap reflect transformation of ever-changing nature and establish a continuity of spaces and environment.
The minimal texture and detail do not display materiality of the architecture itself and narrow down the focus to the space, nature and relationships of mind. By increasing the abstraction degree and elevating perceptional sensitivity furthermore, it is enabled top perceive a faintest alteration and urge sentimental transformation.
Openings of the roof, which lies on each other, frame the sky and let us sense delicate variations of nature. A bundle of light penetrating through the openings reflects on a water surface, which was made at the bottom, diffuses itself in the entire space and fills it with particle of light.
Moreover, sound of water resounding from a level difference at the water court, which was provided for the sake of light reflector, enters into the space between particles that consist architecture and bodies together with fulfilled particles of light.
In this way particles of light and wavelength of water both extracted from nature are delivered to the bottom of mind beyond materiality, and nature and mind are unified as one.
When eternally expanding nature reaches the depth of mind and the both are unified, spirit bound by mundane pressure or distress that are there in closed place will be liberated and navigated to an open system to win fundamental richness and freedom.
