Willrose hills Akasuka-kouen

Ready-built houses in northern Tokyo, starting right after Great Quake in 2011, pursue environmental design to re-connect suffered hearts.

14 wings of ready-built houses of traditional construction method for sale. The project started in 2011, just after the Great East Japan Earthquake. Located in the north of Tokyo, the site is in the area designated for landscape protection. The area has a beautiful hilly forest and parks. The site is, therefore, in the best location for a housing project, while each plot is narrow and small of only 85 sqm. The project, starting right after the earthquake, pursues the environmental design to re-connect the suffered hearts with the safety against an earthquake and fire.

We concluded that “fostering attachment to local area” and “memorable and beautiful design” are necessary to share “connections between people and importance of bonds,” which we Japanese realized through the earthquake. We installed cutting-edge planting methods, which residents can take care of on their own, in harmony with surrounding flora and fauna. These methods include plantings based on the surrounding flora even in each plot, streets with water retention pavements to induce wind due to the difference of temperatures by residents’ sprinkling water in summer, and environmentally-friendly planting blocks.

These would, not just respect the surrounding natural environment, activate communication among residents. Japanese, in nature, have formed high level of ethics by taking care of the surrounding environments. The houses aim to evoke residents of such actions of “taking care,” which current Japanese are not aware of. The houses, with plantings as a key factor, will absorb the residents” sense of values and the landscape will witness local-attachment and memorable scenes.