House at the Foot of Mt. Asama | norari works

House at the Foot of Mt. Asama is a house of a couple in their 50s who own a condominium in Tokyo and live there with their daughters, one of whom is working and the other is a university student. In addition to the owner couple’s use for living through a whole year, and usability as a villa (second home) and as a remote work office, the building was required to be used in a variety of situations: The octogenarian grandmother of the daughters can live with the couple there; their cousin can take her husband and children and sleep over there; the couple can invite their friends who own villas in Karuizawa; they can eventually give the villa to one of their daughters; and other situations.

This house is standing in the Sengataki villa district of Karuizawa Town, Nagano Prefecture. The site, located on gently sloping land at the foot of Mt. Asama, is covered in lush greenery from spring to autumn. While you can enjoy the scenery of a valley with a flowing creek and a forest, the natural environment becomes harsh in winter, when temperatures sometimes drop to below minus 10 degrees Celsius.

The building layout was derived from the volumetric plan in which the floor area required for the lifestyles desired by the owners was calculated in consideration of damaging no trees on the site and providing an access to the existing promenade, on the premise of meeting the restrictions in Karuizawa Town’s Guidelines for Nature Conservation Measures (setbacks of 3 meters from the boundary line of adjacent land and 5 meters from the road boundary line, the building height restricted to twice the distance to the boundary line of adjacent land, the building height restrictions up to 10 meters, and the eaves projection of 50 cm or more).

With an open dining room located at the center, having a double height ceiling and openings to bring sunlight into the building, we laid out unique rooms such as a living room offering the view of and access to the creek, a room designed for accessibility, a room commanding a view of the sloped land, and a room with high privacy, and produced various places of their own.

The Pallet Space provided on the second floor can be used for a variety of purposes, such as a second living room, a satellite office, a guest bedroom, a corridor, a storage, and a locker room. The openings and double ceiling height provided by a skipped floor have created a place loosely connected to the first floor level, where you can enjoy an unobstructed view of the outside natural environment.

This house is planned to circulate fresh air without temperature changes by combining the foundation insulation and total heat exchange from under the floors with the total heat exchangers for individual rooms. The living room has a pellet stove so that you can enjoy the flickering of the fire in a warm environment while viewing the snowy landscape outside in winter.

Project Info:

• Architects: norari works
• Country: Tokyo, Japan
• Area: 122 m²
• Year: 2024
• Photographs: Yosuke Ohtake
• Lead Architects: Daiki Sugimori
• Lead Team: Daiki Sugimori, Naoki Amano