From central Tokyo to Karuizawa Forest. A home around the forest by YSLA architects
13/02/2024.
[Karuizawa] Japan
metalocus, ANA GARCÍA LUJÁN
metalocus, ANA GARCÍA LUJÁN
Inside the Karuizawa forest, belonging to the Japanese Prefecture of Nagano, there is a "Home around the forest" designed by the architecture studio YSLA architects.
The home is designed for a family of four living in the center of Tokyo who, after spending many of their vacations in this area, have decided to build their own seventy-square-meter hotel room.
The home is designed for a family of four living in the center of Tokyo who, after spending many of their vacations in this area, have decided to build their own seventy-square-meter hotel room.
A home around the forest by YSLA architects. Photograph by Munetaka Onodera.
A home around the forest by YSLA architects. Photograph by Munetaka Onodera.
A home around the forest by YSLA architects. Photograph by Munetaka Onodera.
A home around the forest by YSLA architects. Photograph by Munetaka Onodera.
A home around the forest by YSLA architects. Photograph by Munetaka Onodera.
A home around the forest by YSLA architects. Photograph by Munetaka Onodera.
A home around the forest by YSLA architects. Photograph by Munetaka Onodera.
A home around the forest by YSLA architects. Photograph by Munetaka Onodera.
A home around the forest by YSLA architects. Photograph by Munetaka Onodera.
A home around the forest by YSLA architects. Photograph by Munetaka Onodera.
A home around the forest by YSLA architects. Photograph by Munetaka Onodera.
A home around the forest by YSLA architects. Photograph by Munetaka Onodera.
A home around the forest by YSLA architects. Photograph by Munetaka Onodera.
A home around the forest by YSLA architects. Photograph by Munetaka Onodera.
A home around the forest by YSLA architects. Photograph by Munetaka Onodera.
A home around the forest by YSLA architects. Photograph by Munetaka Onodera.
A home around the forest by YSLA architects. Photograph by Munetaka Onodera.
A home around the forest by YSLA architects. Photograph by Munetaka Onodera.
A home around the forest by YSLA architects. Photograph by Munetaka Onodera.
A home around the forest by YSLA architects. Photograph by Munetaka Onodera.
A home around the forest by YSLA architects. Photograph by Munetaka Onodera.
A home around the forest by YSLA architects. Photograph by Munetaka Onodera.
A home around the forest by YSLA architects. Photograph by Munetaka Onodera.
A home around the forest by YSLA architects. Photograph by Munetaka Onodera.
A home around the forest by YSLA architects. Photograph by Munetaka Onodera.
A home around the forest by YSLA architects. Photograph by Munetaka Onodera.
A home around the forest by YSLA architects. Photograph by Munetaka Onodera.
A home around the forest by YSLA architects. Photograph by Munetaka Onodera.
A home around the forest by YSLA architects. Photograph by Munetaka Onodera.
A home around the forest by YSLA architects. Photograph by Munetaka Onodera.
A home around the forest by YSLA architects. Photograph by Munetaka Onodera.
A home around the forest by YSLA architects. Photograph by Munetaka Onodera.
A home around the forest by YSLA architects. Photograph by Munetaka Onodera.
A home around the forest by YSLA architects. Photograph by Munetaka Onodera.
A home around the forest by YSLA architects. Photograph by Munetaka Onodera.
Ground floor plan. A home around the forest by YSLA architects.
The architects of YSLA architects sought to guarantee the family an experience of liberation from city life to connect with nature, feeling the space, breathing the air, and entering the atmosphere of the forest. In Japanese culture, this is known as Shinrin-Yoku, related to the Latin proverb “mens sana in corpore sano”, it is the practice of forest bathing, walking through the forest allows the body and mind to free themselves from stress and improves creativity.
To formalize this premise, the corridor of the house is extended until it embraces the forest. In this way, the limits between interior and exterior are broken, and the forest is understood as an extension of the living room to be able to fully enjoy nature and return to the city with another point of view.
A home around the forest by YSLA architects. Photograph by Munetaka Onodera.
Description of project by YSLA architects
A “Home Around the Forest” is a weekend house in Karuizawa, Japan, for a couple with two children living in central Tokyo. The family was familiar with the area, and they stayed many holidays in hotels nearby. Finally, they decided that they wanted their own hotel room in the forest, a 70sqm suite for a family of four to make the most of their holidays.
In YSLA we wanted to maximize the time quality that the family would spend in the house and for that we proposed them to slow down from the city life and reconnect with nature. We fancy them to feel wider, feel better, to live around the forest, taking in its atmosphere. This will be what in the Japanese culture is known as Shinrin-Yoku, the mindfulness practice of bath forest. It’s known that walking around the forest can upgrade creativity, boost immunity, and diminish stress in other words; it helps you to achieve the Latin proverb “a healthy mind in a healthy body”.
A home around the forest by YSLA architects. Photograph by Munetaka Onodera.
To fulfil this connection, we build a home around the forest, a house in which its corridor extends to the forest and embrace it as an extension. The forest became part of the living room; the line between interior and exterior became non-existent and they can feel wider, feel better. The family can enjoy the totality of its nature, they can walk, run, bike, skate… At the end of their holidays the family can go back to Tokyo feeling they had a healthy, balanced, and full of happy days together.
More information
Architects
Collaborators
Structure engineer.- yAt Structure Design Office.
Lighting.- Daisuki Lighting.
Lighting.- Daisuki Lighting.
Contractor
DK Kensetsu.
Area
Building area.- 70.5 m².
Site area.- 800 m².
Site area.- 800 m².
Dates
December 2022 - October 2023.
Location
Karuizawa, Nagano Prefecture, Japan.
Photography
Yamamura Sanz Laviña Architects. YSLA Architects
YSLA Architects is an architecture and design firm based in Tokyo. YSLA Yamamura Sanz Laviña Architects was founded in 2016 by Spanish architect Natalia Sanz Laviña and Japanese architect and University professor Takeshi Yamamura, after years of experience in Paris, Tokyo and Barcelona, working for Kengo Kuma and Associates and Dominique Perrault Architecture.
YSLA develops its work in both practice and academical fields looking for the inconspicuous elements or relations and aiming to design the architecture, the city, the landscape & the space mutually richer, unique and contemporary.
YSLA develops its work in both practice and academical fields looking for the inconspicuous elements or relations and aiming to design the architecture, the city, the landscape & the space mutually richer, unique and contemporary.
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