ARCHITECTURE PROJECT
Location: Tokyo, Japan, Architects: Koji Tsutsui Architect & Associates, Photographs: Masao Nishikawa
In a quiet residential area in metropolitan Tokyo resides the Koji Tsutsui Architect & Associates constructed Industrial Designer House. The client required that that the house be not only private in nature but also in coexistence with the client’s feelings for his life’s work, industrial design. Along the process of putting together the requirements, it became clear that the client wished to have: an indoor garage for his beloved vehicle; a study with a view to the car; a living/ dining space where his treasured industrial products will be displayed; and completely separated guest room and bed room for sleep. On the other hand, considering that the act of thinking about design is part of the client’s daily life, it occurred to me that the division between designing and living needed to be as ambiguous as possible.
While focusing on fulfilling the requested functions, I attempted to divide each room and softly connecting them together at the same time.
The living/dining room is a core, with its large opening that provides external views and natural light. Ambiances of sunlight and landscape are introduced to the rooms connected to this core through internal openings, in a smooth and indirect manner. All elements are made into a primitive space composed of purely architectural factors such as floor, wall, ceiling, stairs, void and openings.
The result is an internal space as an abstract substance. Valley of walls on third floor, refreshing expanse in the living/dining room on second floor, and cave-like study and garage on ground floor; everything is woven together into a landscape that offers a variety of sceneries.
The steel-frame structure was adopted for an easier expression of the softly connected sequences. Taking advantage of the steel’s lightness and strength, some rooms are suspended while others feature beams with dynamic skip, in order to realize a sense of free flow within the entire space. Steel sheet used on exterior walls also serves as window glazing system, expressing in an abstract manner to the outside the flow of space set free by this steel frame.
Hopefully this building will surpass my intents the moment when such architectural sceneries, the client’s feelings toward industrial products and the actual living all meet together.
[Text description provided by the architects]