Akio Nakasa / Naf Architect & Design

The verdant garden next door left me with a strong impression when I first visited the site. Although it is located in a densely populated area, when viewed from the road in front, instead of the walls of the next door, the greenery of garden was brimming the boundary against the backdrop of the clear blue sky.

The first floor of the house is plotted over the entire site, with a courtyard and a wall surrounding the perimeter. The surrounding wall is slightly open to the left as if a package is peeled off, charactering the facade which is slightly wider to the left. The roof over the courtyard is cut in a horseshoe shape to allow wide view of the neighboring greenery and sky. The courtyard floor is also cut in a horseshoe shape to mirror the roof.

The first floor is a unified space where the garage, courtyard, and living/dining room and kitchen are seamlessly connected sharing the slightly pale gray walls. The second floor is about half the size of the first floor, but also has a unified space from the stairwell to the bedroom, with walls painted a slightly darker gray than the first floor. The first floor houses a study, and the second floor houses private rooms, each with rounded corners to make it easier to walk around and walls painted an even darker gray.

The site is 19 meters deep, and on the first floor, an unobstructed view of 17 meters is secured from the garage in the foreground to the washroom at the back of the living, dining, and kitchen area. Sunlight filters in at varying angles through the slightly open exterior walls and horseshoe shape opening in the roof. We hoped to create various light and shades in the view, and further accentuate the light and shade by painting the walls in different shades of gray, thereby broadening the perception of the depth and volume of the space.

As the client works in automotive design, we spent considerable time discussing colors, materials, and patterns of the design. The slightly reddish brown color for the exterior walls was selected during this process. As the client often works remotely, a booth-like detached study was placed in the garage to prevent everyday sounds and moves caught through a monitor camera.

Although the garage is external from the living, dining, and kitchen area, the floor levels are close together, and the separating sashes are made entirely of glass, so that the garage feels like a continuous extension of the interior in daily life. Furthermore, the garage is intended as a storage space for various tools that will connect the client’s family to the outside world. These tools include cars, motorcycles, bicycles, and a large full-length mirror, and the booth-like study, which serves as a base for remote work, is also counted as one of these tools.

A small opening in the exterior wall serves as a route from the outside, and large double doors of the garage, when opened, greatly enhance the degree of connection to the outer world. Privacy was secured gradually in the depth of the site, from the opening from the exterior space leading to the interior and private rooms. The family can choose the degree of privacy by how much they open each layer while they blend into the local community. Lighting is placed all around the walls of the garage and courtyard, and the client plans displaying paintings and other art here. It may be developed into a small gallery where friends are invited to enjoy together.

At the onset of this project, the client family was living in a detached house about a five-minute walk from the site. So I asked the client why they wanted to build another detached house, to which they explained that they wanted to live closer to the ground and greenery, feeling more connected to the outdoors after they got married and had a child.

The new site seemed to satisfy the client’s wishes from the very first impression. Their previous house had multiple floor levels in a skip-floor layout, creating a one-room-like configuration. While this structure offered an appealing, autonomous interior space vis-a-vis the ground and exterior, the numerous steps posed challenges for raising a newborn infant.

Therefore, this project focused on minimizing the floor levels and step heights while bringing the house closer to ground level and to open the house outward in a densely populated residential area.

Just before completion, we received the happy news from the clients that they would be welcoming a new member in their family. The courtyard is perfect for sunbathing, bathing in a pool, and as a safe play area for infants. Of course, adults can also enjoy reading there or outdoor dining like BBQs. On sunny holidays, I can picture the client family riding their bicycles with children through the slightly open exterior wall to the neighborhood park.