humans and cars cohabitate in this playful retreat shaped like a circus tent in japan 

a circus tent-shaped retreat for a car-loving client

Simple but bold, and playful yet sleek, this vacation home in Chiba, Japan, creates a fun retreat inside a 24-sided volume shaped like a circus tent. Conceived by CUBO Design Architect for a car-loving client, ‘The Circus’ is marked by the concept of ‘spending time with cars’ and throughout captures its inhabitant’s playful nature — from its unusual form and dynamic program to its flexible circulation.

Rethinking the mundane typology and rigidity of a typical house with a built-in garage, lead architect Hitoshi Saruta creates an unusual circular space where boundaries are blurred and humans and automobiles can coexist in harmonious synchronicity.

CUBO Design Architect unveils ‘The Circus’ | all images by Koji Fujii / TOREAL

cubo design architect devises a flexible, circular program

Contained within the 24-point angular tent is a spacious, circular plan which arranges the program for flexibility in line with the client’s desire for a multi-use home. As such, the first story of ‘The Circus’ is an open, designated ‘garage living’ space where cars and inhabitants can wander freely without meeting any dead ends.

CUBO Design Architect concentrates functionality in the core and outer rim, freeing this level to accommodate several adaptable layouts while providing an extreme version of the ‘impracticality’ often sought in vacation homes. The second story, which is a private living space hosting the owner’s bedroom and a central jacuzzi, unfolds in an independently contained volume shaped like a large, round table.

the 24-point angular tent contains a spacious, circular plan and two stories

Freeing the space from obstructions and partitions, the pitched tent is supported at core through an equilibrium of tension maintained by slanted outer walls, eliminating the need for structural posts. Moreover, the architects fuse simple, conventional construction methods with advanced pre-cut timber technology and precision steel hardware manufacturing technology to give shape to home’s unusual, playful form.

Hitoshi Saruta rethinks the mundane typology and rigidity of a typical house with a built-in garage

in the ‘garage living’ space cars and inhabitants can wander freely without meeting any dead ends

the pitched tent is supported at core by tension maintained by slanted outer walls

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a circular, flexible program in line with the client’s desire for a multi-use home

 

 

project info:

name: The Circus

architect: CUBO Design Architect

lead architect: Hitoshi Saruta

location: Chiba, Japan