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House in Toyonaka

Yo Shimada creates a house where spaces and objects are mixed up in a dynamic way, in a sequence of declarations and denials that adapt to human activities and make architecture alive.

For this house in Toyonaka, Osaka, Yo Shimada from Tato Architects tried to achieve a design, in which the main architectural composition, such as the relation between slabs, stands out but at the same time secondary elements also become a vivid issue of the design.

The query was to find out whether it is possible to create space that has quality of, so to speak, dynamic abstractness, enabling space to all the more get settled when activities and things are mixed with the space and objects are flooded there.

Having a left over, unbuilt triangular plot in its neighboring land and an agricultural land across the street, the site was relatively open. The client requested a house there, in which they can live comfortably protecting their privacy appropriately.

The site is narrow and long, irregular-shaped and sloped. The area is enforced with strict wall-setback restriction and also had a shadow regulation. Under the limitations, Shimada considered creating stretch of space by using mitigation of the regulation that permits decks and eaves to protrude over setback lines.

Exempted from the shadow regulation, the eaves height was decided to be less than 7 meters. The volume resulted in two-stories above the ground and one underground story. The part above the ground is sliced into seven layers, shifted, stacked and eliminated to create deep pleated exterior appearance.

The shifted volumes function as balconies, eaves and windows outside, while the level gaps generated by the shift work as a desk, landings and shelves inside.