ninkipen! peels up gandare house’s façade to form canopy in japan

ninkipen! peels up gandare house’s façade to form canopy in japan
all images © hiroki kawata

rising at three-storeys in a dense neighborhood in neyagawa city, japan. this distinctive white paneled home is by tokyo-based studio ninkipen! standing out next to its more traditional-styled neighbors, the ‘gandare’ house features a façade in which the envelope lifts and seemingly peels off at the base to form a subtle canopy at the entrance influenced by a japanese character ‘厂’.

the façade peels off at bottom to form a canopy over the driveway and entrance

inside, the ground and first levels have lower ceiling heights to enable the third floor to have the highest height with the addition of a loft area accessed by a ladder. with no windows on either sides, light is maximized on the front and the rear with windows and glass partitioning. ‘I arranged the positions of the windows in a plan, a cross section and an elevation by taking advantage of many restrictions on wooden houses in quasi-fire prevention districts.’ comments yasuo imazu, architect at ninkipen!.

close-up of the façade

the kitchen and living is based on the first floor with the bedrooms based at the top. all these spaces are accessed by circulation that is arranged at the back of the building. the architect continues ‘the inner balcony and the stairs separated from the living room with wood fittings serves as the veranda. placing the wood fittings keeps the living room away from the aluminum sash frames and makes the wooden interior with the indefinable boundary between the inside and the outside.’

kitchen and living room

a loft-like interior has been established

the ladder leads up to a small loft space

the two lower floors have smaller ceilings heights to enable the third to have the highest

the timber frame has been left exposed – bringing warmth to the interior

circulation has been arranged at the back of the residence

kitchen area

gandare house

floor plan

sectional drawings