Garden House – Takeshi Hosaka Architects
Japanese architecture rarely fails to impress us with its interesting approach on shaping our homes. Led by a strong environmental sensibility, Japanese architecture believes that it must play an important role in creating a place to enhance human and nature interaction. Such an example of architectural flair and design innovation for homes is the private residential project of the Garden House by Takeshi Hosaka architects.
Photography: Toshihiro Sobajima
Located in Yokohama, the capital of the Kanagawa jurisdiction in Japan, the Garden House looks like it has been dropped from the metropolitan area of Tokyo. This 1,222 square-foot private domicile is situated in a 1,051 square-foot small triangle block within a close-knit neighborhood. From the tip of its roof to the ground, the Garden House is fully clad in green reflecting a sense of peacefulness. ‘We aimed to design a house in which its dwellers feel at ease as if the whole house looks like a garden’, respond the Takeshi Hosaka architects for the finished project.
The entire house is arranged by merging the indoors with the outdoors and integrating an enclosed two-story courtyard between them. Thus, the dwellers are given a garden within their house and a sequence of fascinating viewpoints and breezes. Due to the vague distinction between the interior and the exterior, the Garden House offers also an uninterrupted experience as well as furniture compactness.
In response to its green and glass overlooking inside the house, it puts all the principal rooms in a triangular plot. A hallway is framing the central outdoor and through window openings one can observe its long and lean rooms. Floor-to-floor ceiling glass is tuning the degree of light or night and Japanese sliding doors offer a continuous dialogue between the inside and the outside. The application of white color on the walls outside makes it feel small and large at the same time. In counterpoint, a ladder inside the living room short-circuits up to the roof. Apt addition to its terrace, the lid which is made from acrylics is giving a quick sight on the courtyard.
While the dwellers enjoy its triangular spaces and witty angles, its structure enables them to take advantage of both indoor and outside dining, sleeping on the comfortable bed outdoors for a short sleep except in their bedroom. On a further conclusion, Takeshi Hosaka architects’ Garden House highlights the way that the suburban home design has been taken to the next level.
Words: Maria Passarivaki
More Info: Name of the project: Garden House // Location of the project: Takinoue, Naka-ku Yokohama, Kanagawa , JAPAN // Design: 2006 - Planning start (M/Y): October 2006 // Beginning of construction: March 2007 // Completion: October 2007 // Plottage: 97.67㎡ // Building area: 52.12㎡ //Deferred floor space: 113.51㎡ // Structure: Wooden structure + RC
