PRODUCT LIBRARY
'working together from the beginning is a way to see the world through someone else's eyes, to establish shared goals, to unearth opportunities, and ultimately, to offer new outcomes,' delk tells designboom.
the 150 year-old art nouveau icon is scheduled to open by the end of may after over 15 years of construction.
the interior design juxtaposes existing historical features of the building with clean, contemporary lines.
the house is designed to resemble a large piece of a tree trunk.
Welcome to my “ARMOIRE”!
I totally agree with Erik. The floorplan is horrible – even for japanese. if a plot is only 3.5m wide and about the double long, how would you divide it? Lonside? No wideside! It was obviously the first concept the architects made without any forward thinking. The livingroom don’t fit in one of the parts? Hmmm? lets do a bowfront/ bow window.
Sorry, but there are way better concepts for the same plot!
The gap provides many activities and sSPIT-out zones 😉
SF: yes, i’m very aware of the space availability in Japanese cities. Which makes this project even less sensible. Why waste valuable space on a totally meaningless void that fills no practical function a more conventional layout also couldn’t achieve? Instead of using the entire footprint of the property they effectively manage to half the size of usable living space – on an already tiny, and i assume expensive, plot. Why?
And if you look carefully at the floor plans you can see that in this house they anyway got FIVE windows facing the neighboring properties! Guess the void doesn’t even fill the already questionable function it was put the to fulfill in the first place! They could easily achieve the same (or most likely higher) level of natural light and ventilation with a more conventional floor plan. And a skilled architect could still make the house look cool on the design blogs – something that seems to have been the primary purpose for the owner of this house.
In what context is this house practical as you say? There’s not one normally proportioned room in the entire house. It’s just two narrow corridors withe the primary functions squeezed in. I say it again, the only purpose of this house is to look “cool” and ground braking. Which it is – ground breakingly crappy.
Erik: perhaps you should personally visit japan and ideally, live there for a while to study the way they live as well as the space availability, especially in Central Tokyo. Then, you will understand the practicality of the lifestyle there.
Mackenzie: if you look carefully at the photos and drawings, you will notice there are properties on the side boundary walls. If you punch a window on those walls you will only look into another blank wall – pretty pointless isn’t it?
it is not the most beautiful project but very practical and cleverly designed for a narrow site.
no matter what you say.
Illogical, captain.
I guess the lady of the house wasn’t asked her opinion.
They can’t even say they couldn’t get windows on the side boundary walls, cos they’ve gottem.
This is by all accounts the worst piece of architecture i have ever witnessed. These “cool” japanese houses… How many of them actually is good for human living? This beats all though. Yes, a central void functioning as a light well could both look striking and fill a great function, but NOT on a property that only leaves you with two ridiculously narrow volumes. This cannot possibly be considered practical or even cozy in any culture or lifestyle. The only purpose this house fulfills is to look “cool” on design blogs such as this one. A good architect can make something stunning and avantgarde that still is practical for human beings to live in.
Slim geniality! Very very beatiful