Barco/Boat House by Katsuhiro Miyamoto Architect

The big ships were Katsuhiro Miyamoto’s inspiration for building this house in the Japanese prefecture of Hyogo. The solar L-shaped bends with a height of three meters and is surrounded by houses, which complicated the construction of a house that met with local zoning laws. The solution was to create a three-tiered structure supported in part on a retaining wall.

The basement and ground floor are placed on a foundation of concrete spread over the lower and more stable of the lot. The private spaces are located in the basement as opposed to Western culture, the basement offers tranquility and privacy, as the area of the house more insulated from the street, making it a perfect atmosphere.

The top level, like the hull of a boat stands on the front lawn, since you have a beautiful view of the neighborhood through a rectangular window. Miyamoto used Corten steel plates 12 mm in contrast to the interior spaces where the whiteness of Japanese minimalism dominates everything from the ladder to the ground. Two skylights provide natural light into the house.