'ONE' house by ambientdesigns unveils multifaceting rectangles

ONE residence by ambientdesigns completes in residential japan

Sandwiched between the sea and mountain in Kanagawa, Japan, ONE residence by local practice ambientdesigns is an all-white and minimal volume that embraces its irregular townscape site. The project is born from of a client’s desire to enjoy living spaces defined by rectangular layouts and a snug rooftop that balances privacy with openness to the site’s rich surroundings and topography. As a method of securing rectangular planes, the architects adopted the 910mm grid customary in Japanese wooden architecture. Applying it to the site, ambientdesigns defined a building plane consisting of three grids, relying on axes parallel to three of several different angles of the site boundary: north, west, and south.

all images © Takumi Ota

using rectangular planes with a three-grid layout

According to the ambientdesigns team, the grid secures the rectangular plan while realizing conventional wooden construction in its purest form, an advantageous approach from a structural and an economic standpoint On the one hand, the resulting architecture reveals an ‘artificial form’ based on the logic of human construction. The boundary of an irregular site with no orthogonality, on the other hand, can be regarded as a ‘natural form’ created by the topography. Together, this combination creates ‘an eclecticism of nature and artifice’.

‘By creating a single building on a grid of three site boundaries, I aimed to create an architecture that is an eclectic blend of the natural and the artificial. The grid functions as a ‘centerline’, which is one of the manners of architectural design. The project attempts to blend the artificial and the natural through an architectural manner,’ concludes principal architect Taiji Ishiguro.

ONE residence by ambientdesigns

connecting both volumes via a staircase

realizing a conventional wooden construction in its purest form

an eclectic building design

defining the layout on three grids

all-white backdrop emphasizes the purity of the architecture

rooftop balancing privacy and openness

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project info:

name: ONE

location: Kanagawa, Japan
architect: ambientdesigns | @ambientdesigns.jp
principal in charge: Taiji Ishiguro
structural design: Enshu Structural Consultants

contractor: Iishi construction
site area: 100.28 sqm
building area: 56.74 sqm
total floor area: 96.91 sqm
completion year: 2021
photographer: Takumi Ota

lea zeitoun I designboom

aug 11, 2023