H-ORANGE

Finished with exposed concrete, the house is located in the Tokyo metropolitan area. The estate provides a favorable environment since the house is adjacent to the vegetable garden of a shrine with a dormitory in the forest beyond the field. The house is surrounded by a lush landscape of greenery in spite of its inner-city location.

The decision to place the living room and dining kitchen on the second floor results in a commanding view that takes advantage of the landscape extending towards the forest. Then, one-third of the area on the second floor serves as a terrace for the outdoor space. The remaining inner space is surrounded on three sides by views that direct your eyes towards the woods, and the living space gives the impression of being wrapped in the air from the forest.

The handrail around the outdoor terrace is made of concrete, which also serves to shield the eyes from the outside. However, if a fall prevention wall for the balcony of typical collective housing had been erected, it would have obstructed the sunlight and made the space both inside and outside dark and shadowed. Therefore, the intent was to alleviate the enclosed feeling of the terrace by tilting the fall prevention wall outwards as an overhang, which allows light onto the surface of the wall and adds a bright impression to the space.

In the meantime, the sky over the adjacent field brings fantastic views of the vastness of the space into the house, but the field itself is enclosed by an old collapsing concrete wall, so the view is not as enjoyable as it could be. Hence, the tilted fall prevention wall was designed just high enough to hide the concrete wall when seen from the room inside. We trimmed away unnecessary views to provide simple, clear views of the woods and the sky from the inside of the house.