VUILD completes first digitally fabricated house within mountainous village in japan

architecture studio VUILD led by koki akiyoshi has completed ‘house for marebito’ within toga village of nanto city, japan. this project challenges the local issues of forestry and marginal settlement by only using local lumbers and computer numerical control (CNC) milling machine called ‘shopbot’. the introduction of shopbot enables the local community to produce and fabricate wood by themselves.

‘house for marebito’ has been chosen as the GOOD DESIGN award 2020 gold award winner in the category of construction/space design for commercial use for its innovative approach to architecture.

images by takumi ota, unless stated otherwise

‘this ambitious piece of design demonstrates a completely new approach to architecture,’ the GOOD DESIGN award 2020 jury evaluation states. ‘this accommodation facility in a new gassho-zukuri (steep-gable) style has been created using digital fabrication. achieving a kind of sixth industrialization on a micro scale, all processes were carried out within a radius of 10 km, creating an intra-prefectural cycle: timber was procured from local forests, cut into parts, transported to the site, and then assembled by a handful of workers like a gigantic plastic model kit. everything about the completed accommodation facility is new, from the project’s launch based on a joint ownership model to its funding mechanism, with part of the building costs covered by crowdfunding, right through to its production process. what is more, such facilities could be mass-produced by means of digital fabrication if the data is supplied. this effort to completely transform conventional approaches to building conjures up visions of the future of architecture.’

a ‘wind-catcher’ was arranged to the east side facades in order to secure daylight, ventilation, and warmth

the location of the project by VUILD provides rich wood resources, with mountains and forests covering 97% of the land of the toga village. however, the population is only about 600 and the majority of the residents is over the age of 65, making the village ‘marginal’, in danger of disappearing. by building a guesthouse in such an area, this project proposes a new concept of a second home (‘more than tourism, but not migration’) where people can go back and forth as they visit their relatives.

for the construction, a new local networking system was proposed which completes the whole process, from material procurement to installation, within a 10-kilometer radius in order to make use of local forest resources, and approach the decline of forestry. the first step was to introduce a low cost but high-performance digital fabrication machine ‘shopbot’ to the local lumber mill called nagata corporation, and the second was to slice the logs and turn into wooden boards, which is a standard that can be processed with shopbot. by processing all the wooden parts to be small in size, the designers succeeded in involving residents who had never participated in architecture or construction, such as kids, women, and elderly people. in addition, small parts are excellent in transportation and can be constructed without scaffold at the sloping land and narrow space. 

mountains run parallel to the guesthouse, forming a U-shaped gutter same as the path of the wind

as for the design process, VUILD has introduced shopbot again, using digital fabrication to generate local traditional architectural techniques called ‘gassho zukuri’ and ‘wakunouchi’ originally developed to withstand heavy snowfalls. in addition, great attention was given to the orientation of the house, with the gable surfaces placed north and south in order to imitate gassho zukuri, and mountains running parallel to the guesthouse forming a U-shaped gutter, similar to the path of the wind. a ‘wind-catcher’ was arranged to the east side facades in order to secure the daylight, ventilation, and warmth at the same time. 

the view from the passage to the house

low cost but high-performance digital fabrication machine was introduced to the local lumber mill
image by hayato kurobe

the logs were sliced by the machine and turned into wooden boards, a standard that can be processed with shopbot
image by hayato kurobe

image by hayato kurobe

residents who had never been able to participate in architecture were involved in the process
image by aya ikeda

small parts are easily transported and can be constructed without scaffold at the sloping land and narrow space
image by aya ikeda

traditional techniques were realized by shopbot
image by aya ikeda

location: toga village, nanto city, toyama prefecture, japan

structure: yasuhiro kaneda

electricity: matsuda denki kougyou co., ltd

metal plate: kawabe metal plate kougyou ltd.

hardware: hiramiya co., ltd

lumber: nagata corporation

foundation: ueda corporation

site area: 330.08m²

building area: 52.44m² 

total floor area: 59.32m² 

the GOOD DESIGN award was founded in 1957 by the japanese ministry of international trade and industry and is hosted by the japan institute for design promotion. the ‘g mark’ emblem reflects comprehensive design values and principles that aim to enrich lives, industries and society.

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: myrto katsikopoulou | designboom