Parisian office DGT Architects aimed to condense the architectural background of Japan’s houses into a single home with this elevated timber volume supported on an earth-clad base.
The house sits in a 60-centimetre-deep pit in a neighbourhood in Oiso, a town located 40 miles south of Tokyo on Japan’s eastern coast.
The four blocks around the base are coated in displaced soil from the site’s excavation, although the upper storey is a timber-shingled volume reminiscent of an oversized shed.
French company DGT Architects drew on the traits of ancient dwellings for the 122-square-metre family members residence named A Home for Oiso.
Hunting at traces of building in the spot, dating from the Yayoi period (Japan’s Iron Age) via to the Edo period among the 17th and 19th centuries, the architects found both subterranean and elevated residences – forming the basis of the house’s two components.
Relevant story: Residence in Ōiso with walls covered in roofing material by Atelier HAKO Architects
“Our client, who chose this place really exclusively, said that they wished us to design and style a property that would stand following one hundred years,” said the architects. “Then we acquired one concept: we want to design a ‘Japanese House’, which captures the essence of Japan from all ages.”
“The folks of Oiso experimented with several diverse types of housing, such as pit-dwellings, raised-floor dwellings, dug-standing pillar buildings, machiya (standard merchant homes), architecture of villas and so on,” they additional, explaining the distinct variations integrated into the design and style.
The building’s soil walls and sunken footprint assist to maintain the reduced level of the constructing great in summer time and warm in winter. The timber-clad upper storey is ventilated by a prolonged strip window overlooking the neighbourhood.
The shingled framework is entirely lined in wood, which has been moulded to fit the pitched ceiling, even though the lower floor characteristics a raw concrete floor and white walls.
The upper floor seems to bridge a series of dispersed volumes on the decrease degree, but while comparable types – which includes a Tokyo dental practice and Sydney home – offer outside spaces for car-parking and sculpture parks in the gaps, in A Residence for Oiso they are glazed to create a central oblong-shaped living area.
The large panels of glass give normal light inside the creating, and the blocks are arranged to create a series of small courtyards around the periphery of the developing that are planted with trees.
Every single block serves a distinct perform – one particular is made up of a traditional Japanese area, an additional homes the staircase and a bathroom and the smallest is occupied by the kitchen.
“The house is designed for a specific area,” mentioned the architects. “The constructing belongs not only to the website, but also to the past and to the surrounding land.”
“We determined this task is A House for Oiso. A house that is for the town, not a property that is in the town.”
Photography is by Takumi Ota.
Task credits:
Architecture: DGT Architects
Structure: Yasuhirokaneda Construction
Mechanical engineer: EOS Plus
Development: Eiko Construction
Ground floor prepare 
1st floor strategy
