shock absorber w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w
kittaka, eiichi
situation of site

This site is very close to a high apartment building and a house, so it is need to avoid eyes at the south and the east side. Moreover, this site works as a parking area now, I have to design a house remaining this function.
The most important thing to live in the city is how to comunicate with outer circumstances. This site locates along the route that is most crowded route in the Tokyo, so the essential element is how to constitute a relationship between the inner space and the outer space.

operation

First of all, I shut off the architecture itself from the outer circumstances by the thin wall as a skin, and lift up the living space from the ground by this wall. The living space whick is a simular figure of the wall, putted inside of the wall. The steps are putted in a crack between the skin and the living space, this makes inner space more extensive.
The wall works as a shock absorber, makes the sequence between the inner and the outer space more obscure. The habitant feel slack swing through slight orifices of the wall. And the crack between the skin and the inner space is changed expressions by the light from the top, so this crack works as a three-dimensinal courtyard.

Most of the modern architectures are opened to the outer circumstances using steel and glass, but this method is not always available to live in the center of the city. The connection between inner and outer of this plan is obscure, so this plan is avble to offer affluent lifes to the habitant.

International Design Studio 2002 concept drawing site plan Bird View Groundfloor plan 1F plan 2F plan EL north EL west EL south EL east A-A' section B-B' section Interior Diagram 01 Interior Diagram 02 Exterior View