tato architects: house in yamasaki

‘house in yamasaki’ by tato architects, hyogo, japanimage © ken’ichi suzukiall images courtesy of tato architects

designed for a single family with two children in the northern area of hyogo, japan, local firm tato architects have sent us images of a house they have completed that plays with micro-urbanization on a grey plinth. the entire footprint was sunken into the ground 760 millimeters, lowering the roof line and opening viewsto the surrounding mountains and landscape, but also creating a stable semi-subterranean level that uses the earth’s mass for natural insulation.the grey wooden platform houses the main living spaces, kitchen and bedrooms in a wooden frame structure that uses the same material for interior partitions and floor surface. large voids in the ceiling plane connect this open-plan area with three smaller versions of the archetypal house with spatially efficient ladders. two of the mini-dwellings resting on the base platform are similarly constructed of slender timber frames and clad in translucent corrugated polycarbonate panels. these volumes contain the bathroom and sun room in spaces that do not transmit direct sunlight but rather enjoy diffused illumination during the day and glow at night, in addition to acting as light wells and greenhouses for the space below. the third construct is a solid structure and contains a guest room. the canopy then becomes a common courtyard shared amongst each individual protrusion from the primary foundation, with extruded aluminum handrails and storage boxes and benches. the exterior is covered in long cement board panels and efficient insulation and vapor barrier.

smaller archetypal houses sitting on an inhabitable wooden baseimage © ken’ichi suzuki

transparencies glow at duskimage © ken’ichi suzuki

image © ken’ichi suzuki

windows can be used as doorways as the roof also becomes a terraceimage © ken’ichi suzuki

image © ken’ichi suzuki

rooftop terrace with integrated aluminum seatingimage © ken’ichi suzuki

interstitial spaces between mini-housesimage © ken’ichi suzuki

openings in the floor plane allow the user to step insideimage © ken’ichi suzuki

corrugated plastic panels create a shaded light boximage © ken’ichi suzuki

bathroomimage © ken’ichi suzuki

image © ken’ichi suzuki

ladders communicate the main living space to the upper housesimage © ken’ichi suzuki

image © ken’ichi suzuki

(left) office(right) dining roomimage © ken’ichi suzuki

image © ken’ichi suzuki

lower office spaceimage © ken’ichi suzuki

interior wooden partitionsimage © ken’ichi suzuki

main living spaceimage © ken’ichi suzuki

image © ken’ichi suzuki

construction of light-house

interior of house

assembly of corrugated translucent panels

floor plan / level 0

floor plan / level 1

section

section

elevation

elevation

project info:

project name: house in yamasakilocation of site: hyogo japansite area: 231.72m2building area: 93.68m2total floor area: 119.11m2type of construction: woodenprogram: houseproject by: tato architectsprincipal designer: yo shimadadesign period : oct.2010 -aug. 2011construction period: oct.2011 -feb.2012