Its rare to uncover new houses in Japan that haven’t been created by Japanese architects – but this Tokyo residence with a textured glass facade is the function of Dutch architect Wiel Arets .
Positioned in one particular of the city’s usually dense neighbourhoods, A’ Home is a narrow angular residence created by Wiel Arets Architects with 3 storeys above ground and two fully submerged basement levels.
Related story: Wiel Arets’ Jellyfish Residence functions an elevated swimming pool with a glazed underside
As properly as the unusual glass-coated exterior, which has the look of having been shrink wrapped, the house features a secluded balcony and a spiralling concrete staircase.
“Its 136-square-metre volume consists of five horizontally divided spaces, every connected by a minuscule sculptural spiralling staircase that, offered the footprint of the house, makes it possible for for loft-like spaces within its intimate confines,” said the design team.
Concrete provides the primary structure of the creating, which has been made to withstand earthquakes. Internally this material has been left bare, but the architects chose to clad the exterior with textured glass to give the grey surfaces an uncharacteristic sheen.
Every window is produced up of two layers of glass – a single transparent and one particular of the identical glass that clads the walls. Both slide open independently so residents can differ the levels of light and privacy in each and every room.
“These oversized windows, with their dual layers of glazing, can be countlessly reconfigured, to regulate the interior flow of daylight,” said the group, who final year completed a glazed home for a vintage vehicle collector in the Netherlands.
“When closed, they cloak the residence inside an iridescent texture,” they added.
The sculptural staircase rises up by way of the north-east corner of the interior. At its peak is a master bedroom featuring an ofuro – a standard Japanese bath.
This space leads out to the protected balcony, which can also be screened behind a layer of textured glass. This space delivers a view out towards a neighborhood park that in spring will be filled with blossoming cherry trees.
A living space occupies the middle floor, while a combined kitchen and dining space is on the ground floor. It features a minimal white counter and a table that can seat up to eight.
Two bedrooms occupy the first of the two subterranean levels, along with a bathroom. The level below contains storage and utility spaces.
The customers also requested a parking space, so a single of the building’s outer walls angles inwards at the ground to generate just enough space to match a Intelligent auto.
Photography is by Jan Bitter.
Project credits:
Project group: Wiel Arets, Satoru Umehara, Alex Kunnen
Collaborators: Jörg Lüthke, Jean-Jacques Jungers, Sadamu Shirafuji, Ilze Paklone
Client: Arets-Sijstermans
Consultants: Tai Mikio Architect & Associates, LOW FAT Structure INC, EOS plus Co. LTD, Comodo Co. LTD, Oskomera Group BV, Saint Gobain Glass, Eiger Co. LTD
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