F.A.D.S renovates the 'continuous plate house' in fukui, japan

architects ryumei fujiki and yukiko sato of F.A.D.S have completed the renovation of a 19-year old house in fukui, japan. originally designed to withstand heavy snowfall, the building is articulated by a folding plate of concrete, giving its name, ‘continuous plate house’. this latest intervention, which was completed in august 2019, has been recently selected as the bronze A’ design award winner in the interior space and exhibition design category.

all images by hiroshi ueda, takeshi taira

the project by F.A.D.S focuses on the first floor of the house. the brief for the renovation was to convert the existing kitchen area, which included a breakfast nook and food storage area, into a multipurpose and cozy family kitchen. to achieve this, the food storage area and corridors were eliminated, resulting in a more open space. the wall-mounted sink was replaced with a centered, island-style unit, making it a more accessible and functional element of the room.

the original house is formed by a folded plate reinforced by a supporting rectangular concrete box. the outer surface of the box is finished with concrete cast in cedar board formwork, providing it with a wooden texture. to bring this wooden texture inside and reinforce the design concept, the full interior of the box, which envelops the kitchen area, was given a warm timber finish using spruce CLT sourced from austria.

a primary focus of the original project, ‘continuous plate house 1.0’, was to achieve a design that responded efficiently to heavy snowfall. in response to research suggesting that wind patterns would prevent snow accumulation from resting in place, the architects opted for a flat roof without a parapet, which was adopted when the house began construction in 1999.

the original project embraced box-form architecture, which presented a challenge to the 2.0 design in terms of breaking free from that concept. nevertheless, through trial and error, F.A.D.S created a composition that seems to connect the floor, wall and roof in one single bending plate.