ZHU

The project is centered on creating a residence for a client who conducts business in Asia and needs a home for their stays in Japan. The residence is located mid-slope on the picturesque Mount Rokko. The surrounding locale is a residential neighborhood, developed from the hilly terrain. The client's request posed a challenge ―to maximize construction volume on this site, which was beset with various restrictions.
Previously, a box culvert parking lot had been established within the property. It possessed adequate structural integrity to allow the construction of a two-story wooden house along the roadside. The remainder of the site was sloping terrain blanketed with bedrock. To optimize construction on this site, it became essential to dismantle the existing box culvert and reacquire housing land development permission. The consideration included adherence to regulations on scenic beauty, building coverage ratio, floor area ratio, setback lines, sunlight access, and height restrictions. We strived to achieve a unified relationship between architecture and land while taking into account the considerably large bedrock enveloping the site and the degree of its slope. We also devised a unique environment by reevaluating how the subdivided land on the slope should be designed, function, and look.
Our design strategy involved a spatial arrangement that provides the unobstructed southern view of the expansive Osaka Bay and let in natural light and air to each room, despite the strip-shaped, sloping site, hemmed in by houses on three sides. Specifically, we aimed to generate an ambiguous spatial realm constituting layers of the interior and exterior, which provide daylighting and ventilation along the depth. This was achieved by giving variety to the form of the rigid-frame structure with four RC seismic walls, bifurcated in both plan and section. The architectural composition of the house is based on the interior and exterior spaces expanding upward: from the study in the basement, the private space on the first floor, the open living area on the second floor, and the terrace attached to the living room, and up to the rooftop, where one can experience the gradual changes in sunlight.
The four structural elements serve as eaves to control the reflection of light as time shifts and provide ventilation, and as a threshold blurring the boundaries between the interior and exterior by framing the expansive sky and seascape. These elements surely enrich the client's stay in Japan.
Keisuke Maeda

principal use: house
structure: R.C. structure
site area: 175.11sqm
total floor area: 230.84sqm
building site: Nishinomiya, Hyogo
Architects: Keisuke Maeda / UID
+PRISM DESIGN_254 design room-Masanori Kobayashi
completion date: 2022