Photo credits: Daici Ano, Hironaka Ogawa Associates.
The idea, common in Japanese domestic architecture, of a small internal garden, where the mind, if not the body can roam freely, is here developed in an unexpected way.
Hironaka Ogawa has designed a house in Kagawa, Japan, that incorporates two trees that, for the family that owns them, have become receptacles for a lifetime’s memories. In that sense, they are regarded as spiritual custodians of the site. Although cut down during construction they have been incorporated into the new house in exactly the same position as they grew! Read more
Photo credits: Yoshiharu Matsumura.
The tower of Babel was reputed to have risen in a helix, in a futile attempt to reach heaven. But Keiko Maita Archicets, conceived the “J House, in the Yamaguchi, prefecture of Japan, around a helical roof terrace that reaches, if not heaven, then the picture of it, in the form of a private retreat that realised its owners dreams. Read more
Photos: Christian Richters.
Working to a masterplan designed by West 8, Tony Fretton Architects teamed-up with Dutch firm Geurst en Schultz Architecten to produce these simple, elegant houses based on an abstracted notion of the classic Dutch Canal House. Read more
Photos: Moon Hoon, Yong Kwan, Yeum Seung Hoon.
Providing conclusive evidence that you do not need to take drugs to get out our your mind, is this collection of weekend holiday houses, designed for a site well beyond Wonderland by Moon Hoon, a Korean architect of considerable creativity.
Cutting across the sober and serious image characteristic of South Koreans. Escaping for the weekend takes- on an entirely new meaning. Read more
Photos: Fumihiko Ikememoto.
When designing a family house, there is a temptation to design tightly around the client’s current needs, but these will inevitably change with time. More subtle perhaps, and certainly more difficult, is to design with the spirit of the family as perhaps a more constant quality to inform the proceedings. A successful home will be created when that spirit is able to grow within the house.
Hiroyuki Shinozaki looks as though he has designed a dream home for his clients in Matsudo City, a satellite town within commuting distance from Tokyo, that will surely be successful. The architect has interpreted building a house in this city as a declaration of intent that his clients want light, space and hope.
He has provided these qualities in abundance. Read more
