House with hipped roof

Naoi Architecture completed in Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan, a single-story house open toward the neighbourhood, characterized by a large hipped roof, homage to a mountain lost during the urban development process.

This is a house for a family of four, situated on one of the lots for sale at a newly developed area in “satoyama” or semi-urban area. The land was too large for the simple program requested by the client: a private house with a garage for two cars.

Taking advantage of the large site area, the architects proposed a spacious one-story house that is open to the surrounding neighbourhood, based on a design concept of “connecting space to nature”. The site faces two streets on the south and the north sides and no fences are installed along both borders. The front yards on the both sides visually serve as public park although they are not accessible by non-residents.

The house consists of an open square plan intersected by living room in the middle, and master bedroom, bathroom, dining/kitchen and closet are located along both outer zones. The living room space extends horizontally via the “engawa” (or veranda-like intermediate space located between the interior and the exterior) towards outside. The living space, which can be freely subdivided as necessary by sliding doors, provides an appropriate degree of privacy and a feeling of togetherness simultaneously as in traditional Japanese houses.

The section resembles that of a traditional folk house, which is composed of a one-story living space with attic space covered by a large hipped roof. The entire south side of the roof is a large sky window, where to enjoy beautiful views of the sky, while on the north side there are views of the trees and sunlight in the garden under the low eaves. The large hipped roof, which is the main design feature, is constructed of wooden roof girders and rafters to support the simple and symbolic form. 