Description
Dense development within Nara’s urban expansion area and a plot by a lively junction presented challenges for architect Waro Kishi. He chose a planning solution that both allowed sufficient protection for the private sphere and also opened up on the town side. ‘Screening off’ was taken literally here: a screen made of thick wooden laths on a concrete base made it impossible to look in directly from the street but allowed the occupants to see life going on there. Kishi feels this visual link is important, as he does not want to separate the city as an organism from the idea of living in his building. He is not trying to create an isolated island, but a calmed area that still communicates with its surroundings. His building volume is divided into two sections, each facing an inner courtyard. Access to the courtyard behind the screen is via the corner; the courtyard then descends in steps–appropriately to the downward slope of the plot. This lead to a kind of lobby affording access to a ramp complex; the garage is also attached.
The ramp links the two ‘houses’, the private sleeping house with the special, traditionally designed room for the tea ceremony, kept very intimate, and the living section with integral garage. It also resolves the height difference by ensuring that even though the two areas are not at the same level, the roof outlines match, as different room heights are involved. The ramp is a connection, but also a long meditative path, passing through the function areas towards the inner courtyard. The living area with attached kitchen and dining room on the top floor can also be accessed via a second ramp, directly behind the screen. Sleeping and living zones are opened up wide in frontal confrontation, thus creating a kind of distanced, yet close link. Visual unity is suggested by the deep views of the spaces on the other side; the courtyard is in fact identified as the main living space.
Drawings
Site plan
Axonometric view with the position of the living area within the body of the building
Ground floor with main entrance to the inner courtyard, entrance area in the rear wing, garage, ramp access to the separate apartment at the front
Second floor with ramp from the entrance to the living area with kitchen in the rear wing; rear ramp to the bedrooms at the front
Longitudinal section with bedrooms on the left and entrance and living area on the right
Photos
Exterior view with view of entrance
View through to the courtyard and living room
Originally published in: Klaus-Peter Gast, Living Plans: New Concepts for Advanced Housing, Birkhäuser, 2005.