co+labo radovic: the barn house in hokkaido

‘the barn house’ by co+labo radovic, hokkaido, japanall images courtesy of co+labo

the barn house project was developed from the winning scheme at an international design competition “the next generation sustainable house”in taiki-cho, hokkaido in april 2012. the participants were the teams from tshingua university, academy of art, columbia university, mit,aa school of architecture, aalto university, technische universität münchen, politecnico di milano, eth zürich, universitetet i oslo. tohokuuniversity and the winning team, keio university’s architecture and urban design laboratory co+labo radović. LIXIL company, the organizer of thecompetition, provided a generous award, the construction of the best project which was opened on the 17th of november, 2012.

the barn house was designed to accommodate two researchers of the cold hokkaido climate. it reaches beyond obvious practices for extremely coldclimates (i.e. passive solar design), which in the 21st century need to become a non-negotiable standard, by proposing the lifestyle which meaningfullyintertwines with broader rhythms of nature. the emblematic animal of taiki-cho is a horse. the place remembers horses, it still possesses the sensibilityand cherishes the glory associated with the breeding of the racing champions. our architecture wants to connect with the totality of that particular placeby capturing and extending those memories, by redefining the role of horses to meaningfully fit the needs of the present day, therefore it is co-inhabitedby two humans and two horses. it stands against what we are often told and proves that horses, and by extension, nature are never dirty. the barn housereaffirms that we humans are part of that same nature, and the presence of horses thus relates directly to our own humanness. each morning, theresearchers living in the barn house will be woken up by the sounds of awakening nature, and from each of rooms they will witness the beauty of thoseamazing animals.

one of the permanent residents

the connection between the horses and human residents, an unavoidable proximity of the radical other, creates the lifestyle which educates, which constantly reminds of our interdependence with, and the importance of the other. in the summer, the horses will roam the memu meadows, again adding their grace to the overall aesthetic appeal of taiki-cho. their presence will never be just symbolic. during the long winters they will be sheltered inside the house. the manure will be used for composting, which will provide sufficient energy for heating the interior spaces and for nurturing plants, thus creating one of the eco-cycles that define this house. the material which distinguishes the barn house is charcoal. made of sawdust, the byproduct of local wood-cutting (in which 8% of wood tends to be discarded as sawdust), charcoal gets integrated in building management and food production cycles. by absorbing ammoniac from the horses’ urine, it gets enriched and becomes a potent fertilizer. once the smell is fully absorbed, the charcoal will be exposed to the sun, ventilated and then to be used for heating, paving and melting the snow. a radically redefined relationship between architecture and nature, integration of the barn house management into eco-seasonal cycles add another element to the key quality of this building: aware and active inhabitants.

the barn house in its pristine landscape

the first winter snow

relationship to kengo kuma’s building

during the first snow, winter 2012/13

entry in the snow

(left) living room for researchers(right) tatami room

the space for horses

floor plan / level 0

floor plan / level 1

section

elevation

axonometric diagram

project info:

competition design team: millica muminović, komatsu katsuhito, hashida wataru, shinohara masato, kato yoshiaki, sasamura yoshihiro, with darko and vuk radovićproject architect: komatsu katsuhitodesign development team: komatsu katsuhito, hashida wataru, shinohara masato, kobayashi kosuke, sasamura yoshihiro, kanemaru mayumiconsultants: saikawa takumi, kengo kuma architecture associates, sano satoshi, eureka architects and co+labo

co+labo Radović expresses heartfelt thanks to LIXIL, for their generous support throughout the project

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