4×4 House in Kobe by Tadao Ando II

This is the second part of a house designed by Tadao Ando in Kobe. It is an impressive building built in height only four kilometers from the island of Aewaji, the epicenter of a major earthquake that devastated Kobe in 1995. According to the architect, “the landscape that frames this cube is an overview that covers the Inland Sea, Awaji Island and Akashi Kaikyo Bridge. The client asked to feel engulfed by the sea, hence the design up on a small 65 m2 plot. The House 4×4 II was completed in 2005, was built at the request of another customer on a plot of 74 m2 in total 84 m2. The form is identical to the first house, but the material in place concrete has been replaced by plywood Oregon enhancing the organic nature of the construction. Ando concludes: “With these two buildings that evoke an open door to the sea, built with materials such as concrete opposites and the wood, my intention is to strengthen the link between architecture and landscape.”