Butterfly | UID Architects

Thoughts on new spatial domain

We have always thought about the relationships between architecture and garden, searching for ways to enhance and extend these domains. We have also been focused on incorporating the free, undefined spatial quality of Japanese architecture into our designs by reinterpreting the idea of the eaves, canopy, and engawa (Japanese-style loggia). In this house, we are giving new thought to roofs and the spaces they create inside a natural environment.

The landscape surrounding the site is made up of traditional gable and hip roof houses. Therefore，we incorporated deep eaves that create shadows and a tiled roof that reflects the changing colors of the sky, and designed a wooden maya(gable roof) that blends into the neighborhood while renewing the existing skyline. While the site is relatively large for a house，by dividing it into seven separate buildings instead of building a single large roof，we created a flowing floor plan and included numerous surfaces that connect with the external environment. Privacy, light, and ventilation are achieved through variances in the slope, height, and orientation of the roof, and the entire house is arranged to give a sense of cadence to the internal continuity The roof is shaped so that it gives off the impression that the three vertices of the rectangle are fixed，and the one remaining vertex has been picked up with a finger. These were connected in a row over the seven buildings and arranged across the entire site in a way that matches with the surrounding environment. Through the ridge-line drawn by the seven vertices， the house introduces a new skyline that blends into the surrounding cityscape while also expanding the interior and exterior spaces. This formation-an accumulation of gable roofs having different orientations-establishes roofs and floor plans below the roofs separately while also allowing various shifts to emerge in each of these areas, ultimately steering human behavior in multiple directions. We aimed to create an environment where residents are inspired to perceive new sensations through a sense of rhythm created by the vertical shifts that are difficult to recognize in the floor plan, and how it connects to the surrounding landscape.

[JP] 

新たな空間領域の思考

これまでも建築と庭との関係について、それぞれの領域を拡張させるべく思考してきた。そして軒や庇、縁側などを再解釈することで、日本建築が持つ自由な空間性を取り込むことに注力した。この住宅では、自然環境の中で屋根が生み出す領域について改めて考えている。

敷地周辺は、切妻や寄棟といった伝統的な街並みが広がっている。そこで、陰影をつくる深い軒や空の移ろいを映し出す瓦屋根を取り入れ、この地域に馴染みながらも新たなスカイラインをつくる木造真屋（切妻屋根）を考えた。専用住宅としては比較的広い敷地に対し、1棟の大屋根で解くのではなく7棟に分割することで、外部環境との接続面をつくりながら回遊性のある平面計画とした。屋根の勾配や高さ・向きの変化によりプライバシーや採光・通風・眺望を獲得し、内部の連続性に抑揚を与える配列により全体を構成している。

屋根は、矩形の3つの頂点を固定し1点のみ指でつまみ上げたような形態である。これを7棟数珠繋ぎに、周辺環境に合わせ敷地全体に配していった。7つの頂点が描き出す稜線によって周囲の街並に馴染みつつも新たなスカイラインを形成し、内外部における領域を拡張させる。さまざまな方向性を持った切妻屋根が集積した形態は、上部屋根面と下部の平面構成が別々で成立しながらも互いの変化を許容し、人の振る舞いを多方向へ導き出す。

平面からは読み取れない断面方向のズレが生み出す間合いとランドスケープの接続によって、住まい手に新たな知覚を喚起する環境になることを目指した。

Architects                           …Keisuke Maeda / UID

Consultants                        … Konishi Structural Engineers – Yasutaka Konishi, Takuya Asamitsu, structural; Toshiya Ogino Landscape Design – Toshiya Ogino, Naoaki Kanemoto, Syunya Kawazu, landscape

Structural system                 …Timber structure + Steel

Used materials                        …tile roofing, galvalume (roof), lithin paint (wall) , exterior; pine flooring, granite (flooring), lithin paint, wallpaper (wall), timber beam, CLT (ceiling), interior

Site area 　　                       …805.79㎡

Built area                    　　　…350.79㎡

Total floor area                      …309.58㎡

Date of completion                …September, 2019

Photography credits             Nacasa & Partners Inc.