Tato Architects / Yo Shimada

House in Hieidaira I

Location / Shiga, Japan
Type / House + Atelier
Family constitution / couple

Design

Design
Tato Architects
Team / Yo Shimada Hironori Shirasu
Structure
S³ Associates
Team / Yuki Ozawa

Construction

Takahashi Koumuten

Scale

Three-storey
Main Structure – Timber on concrete mat foundation
8,244mm in height of the eaves high 7,932mm best
Plottage 77.63 ㎡
35.05 square meters of building area (60% of 45.15% of coverage ratio permission)
92.45 square meters of deferred floor space (200% of 119.09% of floor area ratio permission)
First floor 35.05 ㎡
Second floor 35.05 ㎡
Third floor 22.35 ㎡

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Located in a rural part of Japan, on the edge of Mount Hiei, north of Kyoto, this house was designed for an artist who required a studio and living space for him, wife and his parents.
The house has been designed as a collection of three independent but related structures that reference the local style of small pitched roof cottages.
We quickly concluded that trying to accommodate all of the required functions in one structure would result in too large a building. In addition, there were concerns from the planning authority that activities in the studio may result in disturbance to neighbouring residents. As a response, we designed three independent forms, arranged in two separate buildings.
Due to a restricted budget, simple forms, materials and construction techniques were employed. The house is arranged over two levels with the ground floor accommodating a small independent apartment in a connected pavilion to the north. The apartment and the main house is connected by a shared bathroom and circulation space. The ground floor of the main house contains an open plan living, dining and kitchen space as well as study.
Upstairs, two bedrooms have been created beneath the pitched roof. As ordinary vertical walls would have made the loft spaces too cramped, the dividing walls lean to divide the space diagonally, creating a ‘hill-like floor’. Skylights in both the ceiling and the floor creates interior and exterior views into and out of the loft bedrooms. Thus, it appears that a smaller cottage is living inside the larger one and as if the house is extending upwards further than it actually does.
The interior features a polished concrete floor, white painted walls and ceiling to the lower floor and exposed lauan plywood to the upper floor.