NA House

Because everything Japanese is so cool right now..

image from http://urbismagazine.com/articles/hot-house-by-sou-fujimoto/

Less is certainly more in NA House by Sou Fujimoto. A delicate structure of steel and glass create a ‘vertical room’ made up of a series of different split level floor plates. Connected by stairs and ladders with an absence of walls the interior space flows seamlessly onto the exterior terraces.Challenging notions of privacy  the house is a stark contrast to the concrete walls of surrounding buildings in the Tokyo neighbourhood. However there are curtains that serve as partitions and control varying degrees of visibility.

One may wonder how the building performs in winter in cold weather – there is in-floor heating installed within some of the horizontal platforms while HVAC and plumbing equipment, storage, and lateral bracing are concealed in the north-facing wall at the rear of the house.

Fujimoto describes his project as like living in a tree, “The white steel-frame structure itself shares no resemblance to a tree. Yet the life lived and the moments experienced in this space is a contemporary adaptation of the richness once experienced by the ancient predecessors from the time when they inhabited trees. Such is an existence between city, architecture, furniture and the body, and is equally between nature and artificiality.” – Sou Fujimoto (via ArchDaily)

For me the project looks fresh and inviting. If there is such thing as ‘friendly’ architecture then this would be it. The transparency adds to feelings of safety both for the owners and outsiders.

And as usual the photos by Iwan Baan always show people inhabiting the building, some great shots from him below:

Also check out the model via designboom: