florian busch architects: house that opens up to its inside

‘house that opens up to its inside’ by florian busch architects, chiba, japanall images courtesy of florian busch architects

commissioned by a local construction company to build a low-cost house that would hold a competitive edge against those of the contractors who build around 90% of the suburbs. the case-study ‘house opens up to its inside,’ offering a new perspective on the archetypal dwellings that sprout up in every environment. in response to the growing issues in suburban density, where homeowners are constructing up to the edge of property line to maximize floor area, the garden is becoming an afterthought that occupies the unwanted or forgotten fragments of spaces in between.

view form the currently empty neighboring lots

japanese firm florian busch architects envisions the house of the future to contain a central courtyard surrounded by two alternating U-shaped volumes that share the garden space. in preparing for the eventual neighboring structures that will surely make use of all the space available up until the plot line, the case study first defines its parameters and defends its borders, allowing the porosity of the internal areas to create a private oasis that remains open, allowing the free movement of air and ventilation through the residence.  the opposed stacked masses create a dynamic flow of circulation around the  garden, through a sequence of spaces that vary in elevation with respect to the ground plane.

entry under the top volume, through the garden

central garden

view into the garden

natural wood stairs

kitchen and dining room

inhabitable stairs lead to the elevated volume

caption

curtains provide visual privacy

bedroom

central courtyard

solid wooden facade

floor plan / level 0

floor plan / level 1

section

section

elevation

elevation

concept diagram

model

project info:

project team: florian busch architects: florian busch, sachiko miyazaki, momoyo yamawakistructural engineering: asa (akira suzuki, yosuke kimura)textile design: yoko andocontractor: sudo corp., chibaclient: sudo corp., chibagross floor area: 140m² + 12m² terracestructure: timber frame construction