The client has a lot of books and wanted a place to store them as well as a home. We suggested that the house could be not only a place to store books, but also a private library that could be opened to the city when he felt like it.
The six glass doors at the entrance were used as they were. The first floor can be used as an open space like a dirt floor, a guest room, or a small library connected to the arcade. The circular benches will be used in various situations. The upper floor is a single room, which is the client's preference, making full use of the generosity of the building frame. Except for the replacement of equipment with the latest high-efficiency devices, the building was renovated with minimal expense.
The owner and his wife, who run a café and gallery from two locations in Tokyo and Tottori, have given up living in an apartment in Tokyo to live their own lives in the city of Tottori. I feel that the formation of a new community in this city shows the future of the family.
In 1952, Tottori was burnt down in the Great Fire of 1952.
During the reconstruction, a fireproof building zone was constructed on both sides of the main street in the neighborhood as the first legal measure under the Fireproof Building Promotion Law enacted in the same year.
At the same time, reinforced concrete houses of almost the same standard were built in the vicinity, and many of them still exist. This house is one of them.
The ceiling height of the first floor of the structure is 3500mm, the same as that of the arcade, and the second floor is 3400mm. The height of this concrete frame is approximately the same as that of a fire zone, and much higher than the ceiling height of a typical apartment building in modern Japan.
It is easy to imagine that this spatial scale, like the arcade scale, is unique to this city and has been experienced since the great fire, and would have supported the activities of the local community.
As a vessel for the formation of the community envisioned by the client, we evaluated this potential and proactively incorporated it into our design.
Team:
Architect: Hiroshi Kinoshita and Associates
Lead Architects: Hiroshi Kinoshita
Photo Credits: Hiroshi Kinoshita and Associates (Hiroshi Kinoshita)
