within a newly developed residential area near kobe city in japan, yo irie architects has completed ‘house in tarumi’. built on a site overlooking the sea, the design integrates the most up-to-date building technologies to create a home that performs better and functions smarter.  

yo irie architects builds a shelf-like frame inside a japanese house to encourage airflow designboom

exterior view 

all images © takahiro arai

 

 

when designing the two-story house, the architect decided to approach the project from the point of view of furniture, ‘around which the dwellers’ living is centered’. appearing as two volumes fused together, a shelf-like frame is positioned in the center of the building to support the roof structure. made of thin and very sturdy LVL, the frame was assembled in small prefabricated units on site.

yo irie architects builds a shelf-like frame inside a japanese house to encourage airflow designboom

exterior view

 

 

the shelf-like frame functions as the centerpiece for wind and ventilation flow within the house. in the summer and during mid-season, the frame connects the entire house aerodynamically without obstructing the wind flow, thereby encouraging natural ventilation by using natural airflows and the chimney effect. for heating in the winter, gaps between double vertical sheets sandwiching the beams are used as return slits and as they are connected to circulation fans via ducts, the warm air accumulated in the upper part of the house is collected and blown again downward for circulation.

yo irie architects builds a shelf-like frame inside a japanese house to encourage airflow designboom

interior view

 

 

with this frame mechanism, the house becomes an open space with high ventilation efficiency in the humid climate of kobe. at the same time the temperature unevenness gets improved during the winter season, thus also improving the heating efficiency. here, the shape of the sloped roof centered on and supported by the shelf-like frame induces the air flow of the whole house.

yo irie architects builds a shelf-like frame inside a japanese house to encourage airflow designboom

interior view

 

 

the shelf-like frame originates from the clients’ desire to have an open space from which they can view the sea, and for a large bookshelf in a spacious study. with this in mind, the architect combined these functions within the frame structure, therefore reducing the total amount of construction work and keeping costs low.

yo irie architects builds a shelf-like frame inside a japanese house to encourage airflow designboom

interior view

yo irie architects builds a shelf-like frame inside a japanese house to encourage airflow designboom

views out to sea

yo irie architects builds a shelf-like frame inside a japanese house to encourage airflow designboom

the shelf-like frame

yo irie architects builds a shelf-like frame inside a japanese house to encourage airflow designboom

view of the second floor

yo irie architects builds a shelf-like frame inside a japanese house to encourage airflow designboom

detail of the frame element

yo irie architects builds a shelf-like frame inside a japanese house to encourage airflow designboom

section

yo irie architects builds a shelf-like frame inside a japanese house to encourage airflow designboom

engineering design

yo irie architects builds a shelf-like frame inside a japanese house to encourage airflow designboom

construction process

 

 

project info:

 

project name: house in tarumi

location: tarumi-ku, kobe city, hyogo prefecture, japan

architect: yo irie architects

gross floor area: 1242.15 ft2 (115.40 m2)

photography: takahiro arai

 

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: lynne myers | designboom