Balanced on a cherry tree at almost four meters heights, Bat House stands out in the open space near Building 3 in Midorigaoka Area and offers refuges for bats. The concept of balance is inspired by animals behavior and get along with the interplay of forces that characterize trees from roots to leaves. The new appendage is based on a singular repeated construction system that, working on other parameters, generates variation of parts. The joints have not only structural function but are also the matrix of the spaces that bats need.
Along The Road
The assignment is to design a “palazzo” for Tokyo in Sasazuka. The site is characterized by a large elevated expressway right in front of the building. Our design reacts to the difficult site condition by positioning a mix of functions on different levels, corresponding to the quality of that level, or lack thereof. Public, commercial spaces can be found on the ground floor, while parking space is positioned at the level of the expressway, finally, the levels above the expressway, which have the highest spatial quality, are reserved for apartments with a view.
Vanna Venturi House
Our house is difficult to explain in terms of a single clear idea, just like the Vanna Venturi House in Chestnut Hill, PA. Since the original site is wooded, while our project is situated in a dense urban area, we tried to adapt the plan to this new situation, In order to follow the pattern of the traditional Japanese machiya, we established the short side of the building as its main facade. But the entrance still maintains the character of Venturi’s mother’s house, in terms of its circulation, with the staircase and most of the doors close to the entrance.
Noise? Rhythm?
Genkan
From the Meji Period to today the genkan (a Japanese house-entry-cum-doormat) has evolved from a space of etiquette to a functionalistic space, and nowadays to a space of convenience. In the Meji Period a representative house had three entrances with a front genkan (表玄関), an inner genkan (内玄関), and a katteguchi (an outside connecting door) in the kitchen, reflecting the different social statuses of the master, family members, and servants. Etiquette required a long spatial sequence from the main entrance to the reception rooms, carefully designed and staging the best views to the garden. In post-war apartment houses the traditional design of the genkan was simplified to make it a compact space containing various functions such as storage, washing, receiving goods, or making phone calls. In essence it is designed as a public space inside an apartment. However, in contemporary high-rise residential buildings the boundary between the private interior and the public exterior has been overly stretched by the introduction of common entrance lobbies where guests can be welcomed on the ground floor. Moreover, a series of technical devices, such as cameras, sensors, automatic doors, elevators, and intercoms, have been introduced for security, accessibility, and comfort, again physically lengthening the distance to the private door to an even greater extent.