This is a house in a centrally located, urban residential area. Since the land around the plot is leased by a temple, it has mostly escaped subdivision caused by generational change. Large mortar-finished homes with gardens stand alongside sturdily built reinforced concrete and tile apartments. The plot is small compared to the surrounding residences, but nonetheless thinking positively about its environs, and sharing and referencing the areas relatively well-preserved residential atmosphere, we set out with the aim to discover a new type of urban home.
Firstly, a multi-layered structure was necessary to secure a good-sized floor area for this plot. To facilitate vertical movement between these layers, we decided to use a spiral circulation to split and connect the floor levels.We also decided to arrange the rooms adjacently without corridors - thus making every area in the house a pathway, and creating a spatial construction of seemingly successive staircase landings. Though the size of individual areas in the house would be reduced due to the split levels, we planned to increase its potential for bringing about encounters and communication, and to create rich connections with the outside community through increasing the width of the stairs, installing large windows and a family-sized bathtub, building 2 levels of rooftop terraces, and generally expanding everything to a larger scale.
The plot faces the road on its northern side, but is bordered by buildings along its other three edges. For this reason, hardly any sunlight nor breeze enter the lower floor. To combat this issue, we incrementally set back the volume of each upper floor, and installed skylights and jalousie windows in the openings so that each room has light pouring in from the sky and enjoys a fresh breeze. Each of these windows are accompanied by other elements such as a dining table, day bed, bathtub and benches etc., so that the rooms are imbued with a comfortable feeling similar to that of relaxing outside on a sunny day.
The outside of the building features a neat resin mortar finish on a steel-frame constructed volume, with spaces for window jambs and running to the indoor ceilings. This serves to accentuate the thick walls, emulating the sturdiness of the surrounding buildings. By contrast, the interior contains various materials including stone, tile and wood. We reiterated these materials according to their position rather than by room in order to encourage occupants to seek out activities in various spaces without allowing the rooms to prescribe their behavior.
As long as residences are located in cities, they not only need to act as protection from the outside world, but also as starting points for urban encounters and communication.We believe that by embracing their public nature and providing comfort, residences allow the diverse internal activities of their occupantsto progress naturally into the outside world, creating beneficial relationships in which individuals and cities resonate with each other.
