House in Takasaki

By treating structure, apertures, furniture, and finishes as independent components, the house acts as a prototype for adaptability across shifting life stages. At the rear of the site, an untouched slope remains, designated for future expansion. As both the creator and resident, the architect will continue to reshape the home, evolving the living space to mirror the family’s growth.This project serves as the architect’s private residence, situated on a developed hillside lot between Takasaki’s city center and the Kannon-yama mountainside. The site, carved from a slope two decades ago, features a subterranean garage at street level with a flat plateau above. Given the load-bearing limits of the precast concrete garage and strict setback regulations, the resulting architecture is a north-south elongated, staggered two-story volume that captures city views from its northern elevation.The structural integrity is maintained by a double-wall perimeter system, intentionally decoupled from the internal layout. This approach allows the interior to be constructed with furniture-like flexibility, independent of the primary frame and easily reconfigurable over time. The increased depth of the double walls further integrates functional elements, such as deep windowsills, shelving, and enhanced insulation. Similarly, openings were planned independently of the structure to optimize visual connections and harness the prevailing winds of the sloping terrain.