A conventional Japanese construction technique was utilized for this home in Tokyo, which functions 4 wooden columns arranged in a square to support the rest of the timber frame (+ slideshow).
The 4 Columns residence is situated twenty kilometres from central Tokyo, in a neighbourhood that was previously dominated by farmland and factories. The area has lately turn into well-known with housing developers.
FT Architects – which has previously created a photography studio with translucent plastic walls – chose to develop a 3-storey construction with a simple cubic form that extends to the boundaries of the website. This provides the greatest region of floor area permitted on the plot.
The use of timber for the building’s frame was determined by its lower value and rules dictating the use of suitable components for minimising hazards associated with earthquakes and fire.
The resulting thick walls and the minimal exterior punctuated by a modest variety of windows, evokes conventional Japanese kura buildings typically used to retailer valuable goods.
“The chunky kind provides a unique presence in its surroundings and a stunning tense space is wrapped within, in which the inner and outer room is connected through a tiny nevertheless beautiful light,” said architect Katsuya Fukushima.
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According to the architects, the home’s interior aims to make the most of the accessible volume by supplying a series of open, versatile spaces. The generous internal spaces are enabled by the use of a Yotsudate framework – an ancient developing technique featuring four supporting pillars.
“4 columns assembled like scaffolding constitute the structural frame,” Fukushima added. “It is stated to be the transitional kind of the Japanese dwelling area from a pit dwelling to a medieval time period dwelling.”
The columns are arranged in a square at the centre of the constructing, which frees up the majority of the inner space.
Every column comprises 4 personal square posts grouped with each other. If essential, moveable partition walls or fitted furniture can be fixed in location by slotting them into the gaps amongst the vertical posts.
Beams bolted to the columns are covered by thinner joists that help the floors of the upper amounts. The bolts and screw utilized to connect the various aspects are left noticeable to emphasise the building’s easy construction.
Two of the columns lengthen from the earthen-floored office area on the ground floor to the bedroom situated beneath the sloping roof on the second storey.
A second pair of columns reach only as far as the open-strategy kitchen, dining and lounge location on the very first floor.
An area amongst two of the columns and one particular of the shorter elevations is dedicated to some of the building’s providers, such as the staircase, bathroom and a storage space on the leading floor.
Sliding glazed doors on each degree open onto narrow balconies at the front of the house. White walls offset the warm tone of the wood utilised all through the rooms and ensure the interior retains a brilliant really feel.
Other timber-framed properties in Japan consist of a house raised over a busy street by a cantilevered concrete slab, and yet another with a cross-bracing cedar construction that is noticeable by means of a double-height glazed facade.
Photography is by Shigeo Ogawa.
Model of the timber framework 
Internet site program – click for more substantial picture 
Ground floor plan – click for bigger image 
First floor plan – click for more substantial image 
Second floor plan – click for greater image 
Part 1 – click for more substantial picture 
Area two – click for bigger picture 
