Concrete and stone in restraint, in pursuit of Japanese aesthetics
This project is the combined residence and office of its own architect. Located in a beautiful natural setting, selected as one of Japan’s top one hundred sites for viewing cherry blossoms, the building’s exterior features a natural stone base intended to blend in with the environment.
Seeking to reflect a distinctive Japanese aesthetic that favors natural materials and finds beauty in simplicity, the design emphasizes plainness and blank spaces in the interior. Because the boundary between these interior spaces and the outside world is ambiguous, a wealth of connections and depths arise, resulting in a high-quality living and working environment that leaves lingering impressions.
The doma, a tiled area on the first floor that can be walked on without removing shoes, has a double-height ceiling and opens inward onto a private courtyard and water feature, where subtle seasonal changes in the plants and the sound of water prompt a keen awareness of time. The spaces become increasingly open to the outside world as they move upwards, offering a chance to be in sync with nature and open oneself to the surrounding landscape.
It is the architect’s hope that this residence and office will serve as a place to reconnect with natural wisdom and the spiritual culture the ancestors have passed down, as well as to quietly reexamine his own life.
Project: F Residence / Location: Hyogo, Japan / Architect: GOSIZE Co., Ltd. / Use: residence / Site area: 105.16m² / Bldg. area: 61.01m² / Gross floor area: 155.35m² / Completion & Opening : 2018.8 / Structure : reinforced concrete / Photograph: ©Akiyoshi Fukuzawa (courtesy of the architect) , ©Nacasa & Partners (courtesy of the architect)
