a series of modular peaks crown takeshi hirobe architects’ villa MKZ in japan

‘villa mkz’ by takeshi hirobe architects 

Situated in Japan’s Minamiboso City, ‘Villa MKZ’ emerges as a private weekend dwelling, seamlessly weaving around the site’s complex and tricky conditions. While offering a scenic ocean view to the southeast, the plot includes a 1.4 m elevation gap at its center, around an outcropping of bedrock, and an unbuildable area cutting into the property on the street side. These restrictive conditions pushed Takeshi Hirobe Architects to craft the reinforced concrete structure like an accordion that traces the buildable parts of the site.

‘By necessity, the detached building housing a two-car garage and guest room is situated on the east side, where the elevation gap is smallest, but the client requested that the main house weaves around the difficult site conditions,’ comments the Japanese practice. 

building a triangular module for a rich spatial experience

The angular geometry characterizing ‘Villa MKZ’ initially looked like a series of interconnected triangles that gradually morphed into more detailed volumes with ‘pinched’ roof peaks. As the design progressed, Takeshi Hiro Architects continued its gradual adjustment of the peaks based on the client’s request regarding the interior so that each roof segment contained a space appropriately scaled for its use. The practice adopted this flexible method in 2019, dubbing it ‘modal planning’. As the architects explain it, ‘[This] allows us to vary the scale of spaces according to how they are used, instead of controlling the overall form, through a powerful geometric principle.’

The roof slabs, which amplify the triangular shapes of the footprint, are supported by polygonal columns that vary in form throughout ‘Villa MKZ’, and, in places, by bearing walls. Meanwhile, interior air volume requirements determined the rhythm of the slabs and the volumes of the spaces they enclose. Last but not least, rooms facing the sea connect to one another, twisting to the east and west to create a sequence of spaces.

‘By manipulating the complexity of interlinked free-form triangles, we freely varied parameters such as the relationship with the landscape, the size of the rooms, and the volume of the spaces. The result is a natural-feeling interior scale and a sense of affinity between the buildings and the site,’ concludes the practice. 

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project info:

name: Villa MKZ

location: Minamiboso City, Chiba, Japan 

architecture: Takeshi Hirobe Architects 

principal use: Weekend residence

structure: Reinforced concrete

project team: Takeshi Hirobe, Ikue Saito, Risa Makino

structural engineering: Akira Ouchi / S.FORM 

general contractor: Kataokaken engineering firm     

photography: Koichi Torimura

site area: 1254.11 sqm 

total floor area: 371.527 sqm 

completion date: 07.2021
design period: 02.2016 – 03.2018

construction period: 03.2018 – 07.2021

— main finishes — 

external wall: Cedar mold concrete, exterior thermal inslation

internal wall: Cedar mold concrete, cedar siding dyeing

ceiling: Exposed concrete, foofboad dyeing

floor: Stone, walnut flooring 

furniture: Basswood with kneading dyeing