la rivière frank architects adds four ears with daylight catchers to japanese house

la rivière frank architects adds four ears with daylight catchers to japanese house
(above) front façade where the box next to the entrance contains the japanese room
all images courtesy of la rivière frank architects

the design for this private residence by la rivière frank architects for a couple with their two young sons stands out between the ready-made houses that surround it. located on a 202 m2 plot in the new town tsukuba–developed since the 1960s and now famed for its university and research center–the client sought to build a one story house full of light whilst protective of privacy. a quite contradictory brief and a puzzle to solve. in addition to this, the brief required the possibility to use the space in a flexible way, wheelchair access, a japanese room and furthermore, space for a vegetable garden, parking for two cars and four bicycles, all on a small budget.

southeast view; a concrete tongue protruding from the entrance doubles in summer as a terrace

to satisfy the requirements concerning the exterior use of the plot, a square plan emerged that was sized 9.100 x 9.100 or 10 times the current japanese module for timber structures of 910 mm square as the most adequate solution. amongst the housing typologies in japan, the one-story house is a popular type due to its compactness, economy and earthquake resistance. also in traditional japanese architecture, this type was widely used and created an architecture dominated by the roof rather than the façades, as is proofed by the two neighboring traditional houses. with this notion in mind, the roof design became a major subject of study that led to the characteristic shape of the roof. 

the characteristic ears, each at a corner of the house catch sun and daylight and project it deep into the house 

the idea was developed to use high side windows, often found in museums, at each corner of the house, in order to create an interior with abundant natural light. this strategy proved to be effective in solving the contradictory problem of lightness and privacy. therefore, four vertical windows of 2. 7m height with light catchers behind, that look like four ears one at each corner, protruding beyond the overall height of the house were designed to stand out high against the sky. this way of placing the windows allowed the penetration of daylight deep into the house as well as the blocking of unwanted views into the interior, whilst still providing views of the outside. through these four ears each facing another direction, light is projected both deep into the interior as well as reflected off the white perimeter walls giving the house its lightness. 

the effect of the daylight penetration in the sleeping zone

in addition to this, in the middle of the square house, a roof light was designed. much like a pointer, a light beam floats through the center of the space, working together with the four high side windows as a sort of sundial making the progress of time felt throughout the day. to make this effect work to the best the temptation to decide for a house with separate rooms was resisted in favor of an open plan layout in which areas were determined by the placing of two square boxes, one containing the japanese room and the other the wet cell. a storage unit functioning as a screen was placed between the living zone and the sleeping zone, and this, together with two columns, compose of a square in the center of the house purposed to be the living area, the core of daily life.

view of the study corner and the entrance to the right 

all other functions are grouped around this central square. the sleeping zone spans the whole width of the southwest side and can be freely separated into three smaller zones by the movable wardrobes. this solution was developed in response to the request for flexibility and separate sleeping areas for the two children in the future. on the opposite side of the house, a long counter with integrated kitchen is designed also spanning the whole width of the house. to add some soft enclosure to this open plan layout, curtains were used on spanned wire.

in the center the living area and to the right the long counter that forms the kitchen and the study area

coincidentally, the two square boxes are sized 4.5 tatami mats large, exactly like what is considered the ideal size for a japanese tea room, while the overall layout of the house happens to follow the tatami arrangement of such a tea room. the advantage of this layout is that it softens the inherent symmetry of the square and introduces dynamism into the plan. the offset placing of the two boxes further enhances this effect. this arrangement is expressed through the change of the direction of the exposed roof beams layout as well as in the birch plywood flooring sized and cut to match the module of the house. the walls are a plasterboard neutrally painted in a light gray as to function as the reflector of light.

the living area 

view towards the kitchen and dining area

access to the sleeping zone, with to the right the japanese room 

view from inside the japanese room 

view upwards of the ceiling and rafters

top view

project info:

architects: frank la rivière, architects inc frank la rivière (principal in charge), nakata hirotaka, kanari ryu, arikumi kousuke
structural engineers: a.s. associates, suzuki akira
mechanical engineers: piloti inc, oguma masaharu
contractor: seiwa komuten, katsumura toshihiko, hisato hiroshi

location: tsukuba-city, japan private residence | plot size: 202.5 m2 | habitable surface: 87.8 m2 | timber structure | facades:

program: private residence

plot size: 202.5 m2 habitable surface: 87.8 m2 

habitable surface: 87.8 m2

façades: japanese cedar slats, wood fiber cement board roof:

roof: frp 

interior: plasterboard and spruce veneer

floors: birch plywood

construction cost: 20 mln yen

design period: august 2013-august 2014

construction period: august 2014 – march 2015

designboom has received this project from our ‘DIY submissions‘ feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.

edited by: juliana neira | designboom