courtyard house with seven rooms by takayuki kuzushima

the courtyard house with seven rooms

In the suburbs of Aichi, Japan, emerges the ‘Courtyard House with Seven Rooms,’ a perfect example of how starkly different styles can unify into one comprehensive space. Designed by Takayuki Kuzushima and Associates, the one-story residence is laid out as an uneven cluster of seven volumes, each hosting a distinct program and angling outwards, breaking the uniform boundaries of the parallelogram-shaped site. More importantly, the beams of every volume are set back to make space for a central courtyard.

‘I designed this house while thinking about the structure and history of the town outside the rooms and about the possibility of living with the passage of time that extends endlessly inside the rooms. The structure and finishes of the house are connected to these elements at various levels. This house is a collection of rooms as an intersection between the landscape of the town and daily life,’ writes lead architect Takayuki Kuzushima.

all images © Takayuki Kuzushima and Associates

Takayuki Kuzushima reconciles starkly different styles

Beyond thinking about the context, Takayuki Kuzushima also had to reconcile the client’s divergent tastes. At the start of the project, the owner came to him with a collection of images for inspiration. These included furniture, lighting, various finishes, equipment, storage ideas, and the use of the window area. The images, however, revealed a chaotic mix of styles; bare concrete exteriors, wood-paneled facades, cool minimalist interiors, rational storage ideas mixed with tasteful antique furniture, and so on.

‘These were fragments of requests for an ideal life, and I knew that they would continue to change day by day after the completion of the construction. Therefore, rather than composing a space by selecting and choosing from a large number of images, we began the design process by considering the framework in which the various elements would overflow and resonate with each other,’ explains the architect.

making room for a private, central courtyard

Specifically, Takayuki Kuzushima bordered all sides of the courtyard with glass, ensuring a clear visual connection with each room. He also structured the interiors as a continuous floor plan that goes around the central space like a broken circle. Sliding doors, meanwhile, are spread across the house to maintain open views and a seamless flow of movement.

While unification was central to the design, the ultimate purpose was to celebrate the house’s rich mix of spatial experiences and styles. For that, the architect used three types of wall finishes indoors (Plywood OS, EP coating, and exposed columns) and a blend of corrugated and rough textures outdoors.

‘The composition of the seven rooms is replaced by an accumulation of many places. Here, furniture, lighting, and miscellaneous knick-knacks and toys scattered around the rooms also participate as elements of the space and resonate with each other as part of daily life,’ concludes the architect.