House in Tourimachi, the two-family house with 3 stories is located in Takasaki city, Gunma. It takes one hour from Tokyo by the Shinkansen. The site has a frontage of 6 meters, depth of 13 meters, which makes a 89㎡ long and narrow land shape. On the south is the 4 meters wide road, sharing northeastern border with a cemetery and otherwise surrounded by three-storey houses. The client wanted a well lighted and ventilated double house duplex to share with their parents. We designed the ground floor for the parents and the 2nd and 3rd floor for the children of the family. Considering the cemetery as a universal opened space located besides residential area, we were able to create a preferable atmosphere together with a certain level of privacy. Windows opened toward the cemetery and the three-layered stairwell on the northern part provided a steady amount of light and ventilation. And by sharing the whole atmosphere within the house, while having diferrent life style, the two generations, will be able to cherish their relationship more. The main design of this architecture is the roof wrapping up the whole house, embodying the cohabitation of two generations, and working as a shade at the same time with the southward expanded eaves. This house has a slab beam sloping irrelevantly against the plan, and this helps connect the room within this compact space without constructing a pillar inside.–>
通町の家 Residence @ Takasaki, Gunma Design: Sunao Koase, Naoki Mashiyama /SNARK Inc. ＋ Shin Yokoo /OUVI Structural engineer: Shin Yokoo /OUVI Construction: 宮下工業 Site area: 87.79㎡ Built area: 44.11㎡ Floor area: 108.59㎡ Number of floors: 3 Structure: Wood Timeline: Design Sep.2012-Sep.2013 Construction Oct.2013-Jun.2014 Completion: Jul. 2014 Photo: Ippei Shinzawa
After a 50 minutes drive from Takasaki city, Gunma, a place between village and city, you will see the building, having both residential and commercial spaces. The kind of highway that bypass load is located right in front of this site. Setting this road-side location as a key factor, we had to combine both concepts: a house and a store. To characterize the building as a store, it needed to hold a commercial presence. Therefore, we decided to make the whole architecture as a sign. The external space will collect attentions from outside. The internal space will frame the space. The site was planned not to shut down drivers’ eyes on the road in consideration of being seen from the outside , after considering the wants we had to satisfy at the same time. To show the architecture, the shape factor, volume, and the plot was designed. We designed the commercial area on the ground floor and the residential area on the second floor. The ground floor has a wide opening, catching eyes from outside. The second floor has a hardly visible opening, preventing the passers-by from seeing inside. From the windows upstairs, residents are able to see the magnificent view of the mountains surrounding around(Akagisan, Asamayama, and Myougisan). These windows help provide enough lights to the space.
