House in Iizuka

The site is located between the national road and a village with fields, and there is a big gap between the traffic on the west side, where the flow of time is fast, and the open landscape with the Honami River and fields. There is also a forest created by a shrine and Mt. At a distance from the site, there are the remains of the foundations of a windlass from the coal mining era, chimneys and brick walls that have survived over the years, and an impressive landscape that includes the remnants of an inn town.

Photography by © Katsumasa Tanaka

In order to make the new house a part of the landscape, I selected materials such as cement sheets, blackened Zamammai steel plates, and broken stones in cages, which will become mossy, for the exterior of the house, so that they will become part of the landscape over time. On the other hand, the family who would live here wanted to move from the Tokyo metropolitan area to the countryside and spend time in a more relaxed atmosphere. In addition, from talking with the client’s family, we felt that they wanted to rent a field in the neighborhood to do farm work, deepen their relationship with their neighbors and relatives, and live a polite life.

Photography by © Katsumasa Tanaka

First of all, we created a protected garden on the east side by building a wall on the national road side with a volume like a long wall. The dining room with high ceilings overhangs the garden and has high side openings on all four sides and is open to the sky. A simple structure with two volumes and a mixed structure of wood and steel (a steel frame frame is used in the shortest direction) creates a ramshackle interior space, and movable storage furniture and partitioning fixtures are used to allow the residents to change it as they move through it.

Photography by © Katsumasa Tanaka

I felt that the architecture, which changes in response to changes in lifestyle and family structure, and which completes itself over time, is the kind of life the client is seeking. While opening to the sky, the lower part of the high side of the house is closed with a wall to ensure the privacy of the living space. The high roof of the dining room appears to float from the national road and the surrounding area. We believe that the residents of the neighborhood can grasp the atmosphere of the family that lives there from the experience of seeing the sky and the trees through the leaking lights and glass. In combination with the client’s taste, we have composed the entire house with rough materials, both inside and out, and aimed to create a house that would be one of the symbols of this place, by using materials and structures that would have a taste with the flow of time.

Photography by © Katsumasa Tanaka

Project Info:
Architects: Peak Studio
Location: IiZUKA, Japan
Area: 142 m²
Project Year: 2020
Photographs: Katsumasa Tanaka
Manufacturers: Nemetschek, YKK AP, Duravit, KMEW, UENO JYUKEN, YODOKO