House in Yotsukaido2

四街道の住宅 / House in Yotsukaido

施主は夫婦２人とその母の３人家族。来年から家にいる時間が増えるタイミングで改修を行うことになった。

子供達はみな家を出た後、３人では広すぎるこの家を大きく使いきるような計画とした。まずは、２階壁を壊し元々ある吹抜けと繋げ、リビングの一部に小上がりを設け、天井を下げた。階段への動線も短くすることで二階へ登りやすくし、心理的な距離を縮める。

離れた空間同士を接着させるように散りばめられたものたち ― カーテン、ロングソファー、同寸の木の柱・梁・手すり、グレーに塗られた部位、リビングのR天井 ― 単体では取るに足らない存在を複合的に整理することで、空間を適度に繋げる。

同じような色合いで統一しているカーテンも、縫製や素材を変え、場所ごとに振る舞いを変える。また、内部の壁や天井は白を基調とし、カーテンやカーペットによって窓や室内からの光を拡散・彩色させ、天気や時間の移ろいの感度を上げる。

最小限の操作で最大限の効果を得られるように整理していくことで、既存の住宅にある垢のようなものを残して改修を行うことができた。

The client of this project is a family of three, a couple, and their mother. They decided to renovate the house as they expect to spend more time at home from next year.

The plan is concentrated to use the space as a whole, which was too large for three people, as all their children had already left home. First of all, we broke the wall on the second floor to connect it to the existing void. And we partially lowered the ceiling of the living room at the same time, we created a small rise to emphasize this cozy space. We also shortened the flow line to the staircase to make it easier to go upstairs and reduce the psychological distance.

We try to gather “architectural things” that are scattered to glue the separated spaces together―curtains, long sofas, systemized wooden pillars, beams, handrails, space colored in gray, ceiling line that draws curve―although each of their existence is insignificant by themselves, however, they connect the spaces appropriately by organizing with each other and making sort of combination.

Even the curtains, which are uniformly colored in similar shades, are sewn and made of different materials to change their presence from place to place. The light from the windows and rooms is diffused in every direction with its colored shade by the presence of these fabrics. Walls and ceilings are based on white to emphasize this effect, increasing the sensitivity of the change of weather and time.

We were able to carry out this renovation work while preserving the innards of the existing house and achieving maximum effect with minimum manipulation.