House K by Sou Fujimoto
12/07/2013.
Sou Fujimoto Architects. [Nishinomiya] Japan
metalocus, LAURA CANTO
metalocus, LAURA CANTO
Called House K after the first letter of the client's last name, the latest home from Sou Fujimoto. Designed as a single, swooping volume that emerges gently from the ground and then rapidly surges upward before tapering to a blunt point at the site's east end. The house delights its owners who are happy and enjoy living in such a place like this.
House K by Sou Fujimoto Architects. Photography © Iwan Baan.
House K by Sou Fujimoto Architects. Photography © Iwan Baan.
House K by Sou Fujimoto Architects. Photography © Iwan Baan.
Interior view. House K by Sou Fujimoto Architects. Photography © Iwan Baan.
House K by Sou Fujimoto Architects. Photography © Iwan Baan. Click above to see larger image.
House K by Sou Fujimoto Architects. Photography © Iwan Baan.
Interior view. House K by Sou Fujimoto Architects. Photography © Iwan Baan.
Interior view. House K by Sou Fujimoto Architects. Photography © Iwan Baan.
Interior view. House K by Sou Fujimoto Architects. Photography © Iwan Baan.
Interior view. House K by Sou Fujimoto Architects. Photography © Iwan Baan.
House K by Sou Fujimoto Architects. Photography © Iwan Baan.
Interior view. House K by Sou Fujimoto Architects. Photography © Iwan Baan.
House K by Sou Fujimoto Architects. Photography © Iwan Baan.
Interior view. HouseInterior view. House K by Sou Fujimoto Architects. Photography © Iwan Baan. K by Sou Fujimoto Architects. Photography © Iwan Baan. Click above to see larger image.
Interior view. House KInterior view. House K by Sou Fujimoto Architects. Photography © Iwan Baan. by Sou Fujimoto Architects. Photography © Iwan Baan.
Site plan, House K. Courtesy of Sou Fujimoto Architects.
Groundfloor, House K. Courtesy of Sou Fujimoto Architects.
Upper floor, House K. Courtesy of Sou Fujimoto Architects.
Lengthwise section, House K. Courtesy of Sou Fujimoto Architects.
Cross section, House K. Courtesy of Sou Fujimoto Architects.
South elevation, House K. Courtesy of Sou Fujimoto Architects.
East elevation, House K. Courtesy of Sou Fujimoto Architects.
North elevation, House K. Courtesy of Sou Fujimoto Architects.
West elevation, House K. Courtesy of Sou Fujimoto Architects.
House K by Sou Fujimoto Architects. Photography © Iwan Baan.
Memory of project
The house lies on the serene site located in the midst of the residential district of Nishinomiya, Hyogo prefecture.
Expanding the line of sight toward the woods that spread to the west, it was when I was plotting such a life as the garden and the interior may become richly contiguous that I came up with this idea of ”roof=garden” which stretches up diagonally.
The roof garden slowly rising like a hillside, creating a living space that stretches itself downward at the same time. Dotted with potted trees that are as if they are floating on the roof, it is like a landscape of a semi-natural and semi-artificial mountain. While a number of openings are capturing the soft light, the slope vividly cuts out the landscape of the woods and the sky with an unexpected sense of distance.
The interior space of the studio is made up of three different floor levels. Living space on the semi-basement is excavated 1.5 meters, the dining and the kitchen spreads out from the entrance on the ground level and the nursery-cum-living lies about 2.5 meters up the steps where people can sit in various ways. The bathroom and the master bedroom are stored under those steps.
The space contains these different levels of space continuously, where overlap the windows bored randomly. Thus created difference in hight of the line of sight changes the spatial expanse and composure in diversity.
With this house, it was significant to connect the interior and the roof garden.
Moreover, not only in one place but if it were possible to move back and forth inside and out at various levels of hight, the life traversing between the living space and this mountain-like garden would surely become so rich.
Ultimately, it became possible to create the routes to access this garden from all these three different levels described above.
You can move freely in and out that way, I wanted to generate more natural and geographical relationship between inside and outside which is different from the normal architecture of its garden and floor distinctive from each other.
On top of the slope of the garden was placed a small hut.
Like an arbor, it is a shed that complements the life in the garden while it is also like a small villa, which I hope that, together with some furniture emplaced on the roof, shall suggest an opportunity to enjoy this new form of garden.
Text.- Sou Fujimoto.
CREDITS.-
Architecs Project Authors.- Sou Fujimoto Architects.
Principal(s) in charge.- Sou Fujimoto.
Project team.- Yoshihiro Nakazono, Naganobu Matsumura, Ryota Okada, Naoki Tamura.
Collaborators- Jun Sato Structural Engineers Co., Ltd.Jun Sato, Kenichi Inoue (Structural Engineering), Sirius Lighting Office: Hiroto Totsune, Shuhei Kobayashi, Yuya Tanaka (Lighting), Furukawateijuen: Furukawa (Landscape).
General contractor.- Tokuoka Koumuten Co., Ltd.
Program.- Housing.
Site surface.- 310.24 m².
Building surface.- 118.23 m².
Total floor surface.- 18.23 m².
Project Dates.- July 2010/ June 2011.
Construction Dates.- July 2011/ July 2012.
Location.- Nishinomiya, Japan.
More information
SOU FUJIMOTO
Sou Fujimoto was born in Hokkaido, Japan on August 4, 1971. In 1994 he graduated in architecture at the Faculty of Engineering, University of Tokyo. He established his own architecture studio, the agency Sou Fujimoto Architects, in Tokyo in 2000, and since 2007 a professor at Kyoto University.
He was first noticed in 2005 when he won the prestigious AR – international Architectural Review Awards in the Young architect’s category, a prize that he garnered for three consecutive years, and the Top Prize in 2006.
In 2008, he was invited to jury these very AR Awards. The same year he won the JIA (Japan Institute of Architects) prize and the highest recognition from the World Architecture Festival, in the Private House section. In 2009, the magazine Wallpaper* accorded him their Design Award. Sou Fujimoto published “Primitive Future” in 2008, the year’s best-selling architectural text. His architectural design, consistently searching for new forms and spaces between nature and artifice.
Sou Fujimoto became the youngest architect to design the annual summer pavilion for London’s Serpentine Gallery in 2013, and has won several awards, notably a Golden Lion for the Japan Pavilion at the 2012 Venice Architecture Biennale and The Wall Street Journal Architecture Innovator Award in 2014.
Photographer: David Vintiner
