Akihisa Hirata Architecture Office's House t
I hate to say it, but I haven't spotted anything really interesting in a while that I wanted to post on. Yes, things have been going on. I check my feed readers every day, I see them. But I've sort of found it to be more of the same. Nothing really turned my head.
Finally, I saw something that sparked a little daydreaming again, which is really what I'm after. It's "House t" by Akihisa Hirata Architecture Office (HAO) of Tokyo, Japan. Of course, it's Japanese. Is there any place in the world that produces more unique, original, thought provoking houses than Japan? NO WAY!
The approach to a second story and the division of spaces in the home is totally different. I get lost just looking at the roof line and the placement of the windows. It's bright, clean and sculptural in a way that only Japanese houses are.
Via Things Magazine (October 3rd, 2007)
Image credits - HAO site
4 comment(s):
This is a really interesting departure from the norm, where all the second floor space is in these separate pods. I don't see stairs or ladders - are there climbing steps let into the walls?
The renderings don't really show how you get up there, and the firm's site has no info, or at least none in English! I did some searching for commentary elsewhere and didn't find anything useful.
I'm assuming ladders are used. I think anything else would take up too much space. I see ladders in lots of Japanese houses - they seem very comfortable with them. It would be challenging if you had small kids, but I think the "challenge" of it is a very American notion. We always want everything to perfectly fit whatever is happening in our lives. We're not so inclined to be adaptable anymore, to our detriment.
A lot of people would probably say such spaces are a bit dangerous for kids, but I think that can easily be addressed with very simple railings. What kid wouldn't want such a neat space to play/read/sleep in? It reminds me of a rammed earth ranch house that David Easton did for a family of apple growers. They had two girls with these small, adjoining bedrooms. There was a play loft up above. The kids in the photos were sitting up there playing together. It was in House Beautiful magazine back around 1992.
House t also reminds me of Shigeru Ban's Naked House, which had the movable tatami cube/rooms, the tops of which were also utilized for living space.
Of course, in House t the American notion of privacy is challenged once again. The sleeping spaces are open to each other and everything else. America is so focused on family, but priorities of individual privacy and Puritan decency have sort of been enabled over time with the development of such specialized living spaces in our homes. Totally different mindset in Japan, I think.
I think that's why I love Japanese homes. I want to live that way, even though I'm not totally sure I'm capable of it.
You're right -there is something going on with the japanese houses you've sampled. There is a string of continuity between them that I also see in traditional japanese houses - tatami mats and sliding screen partitions made the houses transformable from discreet spaces to larger open rooms. Even when these were partitioned they don't create the complete separation that a wall does.
that's awesome -- reminds me a little of some of the live/work loft spaces you'll find in San Francisco and other largish modern cities
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