These six Japanese houses explore different lifestyle concepts in urban and rural settings. The projects present a varying weave of geometries and volumes to cater for a wide range of occupant requirements. Some architectures attain prominence by standing out in their urban environment while others, like Satoshi Okada’s villa in Karuizawa, show their architectural prowess by blending ineffably with their natural surrounds. Here, landscape is harnessed to the poetic use of architectural materials and spaces: a plan with elliptical segments and a Cor-ten roof that canopies over the whole building including the external living areas. Okada succeeds in conceiving nature as part of the built space while at the same time giving full expression to the communicative power of architecture.
Other houses tackle these same themes but within the dense urban context of Japan’s cities. The result is a project rationale that caters for functional demands, small plots and assertive identity.
Jun Aoki’s housing complex with a central court manages to emerge from its context but at the same time fit into it. Simplicity of form and richness of detail make for a restrained refinement. Shigeru Fuse, on the other hand, makes maximum use of a sequence of cantilevered volumes that connect effortlessly with a longitudinal plan. The result is dynamic, luminous, sculptural architecture opening up in many directions. Astrid Klein and Mark Dytham’s Sasao House highlights its asymmetrical form with painted metal cladding at the intersections of the different facades, following through this geometric rigueur into the interiors. Masaki Endoh twists two volumes to create acute angles and elevations facing several directions in the Natural Angles house. The environments of the secluded interior commune, however, only with the aspect they overlook, creating a series of intimate places. The wooden frame Hansha Reflection House by SKLIM architect practice takes its cue from the nearby park,...
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