With House by Studio Loop

Social transformations forced the Japanese to force a radical change in lifestyle and consequently in their homes.

“In the past 60 years, such as information technology has progressively changed in Japan, our housing industry has adapted quickly to this change. This” forced adjustment “of our society has caused a transformation of our traditional lifestyle , and is commonly spoken of as living space “nLDK”, n (number of bedrooms) L (living) D (high) K (kitchen). nLDK concept is used to describe the value that the house has .
Spatial flexibility and relationships (private and public) between the n, L, D and K are separated and lost, with the result that the “function” begins to walk alone.

Our proposal for these two houses, “WITH” and “Beat” is about re-examine and re-organize a quality relationship nLDK readjusting to current and future lifestyle.

Located in a rural area in Gunma, Japan, the site is surrounded by a particular environment, the busy traffic in the north, large agricultural fields west and east, and the long row of cherry blossoms in the south. The climate here is also unusual in summer, this city has the highest temperature each year, and in winter, a gust of wind blows from north to west in this area.

To live with this harsh environment, customers, a young family, asked not only typical, privacy, natural light, good ventilation, but also the place where a family can feel protected and motion sensitivity. From these keywords and programs that gave us, our solution for the house began to integrate.

First, imagine “a big hole surrounded” inside the house and the LDK. Originally, early humans lived in a hole (cave) to protect against dangerous enemy and the environment.

Not exactly similar to what humans were primitive, but living in a hole (cave) was inevitable for our progress of the house. Therefore, we use this idea of “hole” as the direction of a solution to start the process of our design.

The hole (double height) of 5 meters (LDK) exists for a family to share all the activities such as cooking, eating, playing, studying and even running.

In front of the hole (LDK), the central body of the house, is located the area of private rooms (bedroom and children’s bedroom) and the area of service rooms (bathroom, toilet and storage). These are placed 600 mm below the LDK and around the hole acting as a buffer between the outside and the LDK to stabilize severe seasonal weather and traffic noise.

In addition, because private rooms, the service is directly linked with the LDK only by opening the doors. The family can have easy access to all rooms and ventilation, which is one of the most important things for this house, is created through the joint spaces.

The library, study space and space found DJ on the second floor, and are connected with double volume LDK without walls or partitions, creating a unified space for family activities.

Another main character of this house is the window of 2m x 5m high at the top level. This gives you a view of the sky from the steps of LDK, while reinforcing awareness of being in the hole LDK, which makes a family to be protected.

Undoubtedly provides enough light even on cloudy days. In the spring, this window becomes a frame of the cherry blossoms (one of the traditional Japanese trees). In summer, the corridor on the upper level becomes a canopy to protect from direct sunlight, and in winter the sun shines through the kitchen to heat the space LDK.

In addition to the window, there is a terrace where the family can enjoy, take a break and works as a barbecue.

Since we had to find a solution with a low budget, the outer skin should be a material. Considering the natural landscape that surrounds it, we think the house had to be a mass and a unit object, we chose the black for their existence disappear in the natural environment. For this, we wanted to reflect the way in opposition to nature.

In the suburban area, compared to an urban area (including Tokyo), people have many opportunities to have a relationship with nature every day. Here we begin to design how a house can stand against this particular environment. ”

Technical data:
Architects: Studio LOOP
Location: town Itakura, Gunma, Japan
Land area: 413.13 m2
Project Area: 173.07 m2
Project Year: 2008-2009
Photos: Courtesy of Studio LOOP