Ryue Nishizawa, occasionally of SANAA, has completed a house in the suburbs of Tokyo where every room of the house is a seperate building. Nishizawa - and his SANAA collaborator, Sejima - have explored the idea of fragmenting buildings into their constituent parts many times before, in their various housing studies and notably at the Kanazawa Museum of 21st Century Art.
The Moriyama House feels like the natural conclusion to these studies and presents a serious experiment on an alternate pattern of habitation.
Flung over the entire site, the boxes form a little community unto themselves. The spaces between the boxes and the street edge take on a public/private role as community gardens (presumably there is still much landscaping work to be done. But you never know.) and places of interaction between the client and thier lodgers.
So the house has becomes like a microcosm of a city; complete with towers, streets and parks.
From the architect’s description in El Croquis 121-122
“In this house, the client is given the freedom to decide which part of this cluster of rooms is to be used as a residence or as rental rooms. He may switch among the series of living and dining rooms or use several rooms at a time according to the season or other circumstances. The domain of the residence changes after his own life.”
Notionally however, the current occupation of the house seems to be:
A, B, C, D are occupied by the client. More specifically, A is bedrooms and a study, B the kitchen and pantry, C the living room and D the bathroom.
E is the maids quarters.
F,G+H, I, J are rental units of varying size.
The quest to make construction methods thinner and thinner in Tokyo to maximise area on insanely small parcels of land is well documented. In this instance there is a kind of absurd relationship between making the walls as wafer thin as possible by pre-fabricating the boxes out of plate steel - “dude, seriously, we must build this out of steel” - while recklessly discarding space to the public realm.
Fingers crossed that Nishizawa has discovered some kind of dirt-proof white paint…
All Photographs by Norimichi Kasamatsu. They appeared in Domus 888, p36-49.
April 25th, 2006 at 7:57 pm
Let me tell you - black paint also attracts a lot of dirt - nice entry on your blog
will have a closer read. Catcha
May 11th, 2006 at 12:53 pm
What about the rain?
May 13th, 2006 at 10:53 pm
[…] פתרון למצוקת הדיור בתל אביב? עיצוב בניין יפני שבו כל חדר הוא בניין שונה. […]
May 17th, 2006 at 6:19 pm
I’ve seen this done before-years ago in an Elle Decor spread, about a home in the Caribbean somewhere. Aesthetically I think it’s fun and interesting; not sure of the practicality of it all. Do I want to wander outside in my jammies at 1:00 AM to get to the kitchen???
May 17th, 2006 at 7:06 pm
Am 19 ani!
November 23rd, 2006 at 4:51 am
where can i find this house
November 23rd, 2006 at 11:47 am
Ryan - I am not sure where it is,
only that it is in the suburbs of tokyo….
If you find out, I would love to know for my next trip over there.
November 23rd, 2006 at 12:04 pm
A local architect here in Tokyo mentioned that the house is located in Oota-ku (Tokyo) near Hasunuma and Kamata Stations, but I am also trying to find the exact address. Additionally, the work of Henk Visch is currently being showcased there.
Nice site!
November 23rd, 2006 at 1:19 pm
Thanks Travis!
November 26th, 2006 at 10:29 am
i am in tokyo in search of this house…. thanks, marcus
November 27th, 2006 at 7:44 am
well…the house is really interesting…if you could give me an idea of the exact place…I’ll go!
thanks,
erica
November 27th, 2006 at 5:40 pm
mission accomplished!!! the house is interesting, but 21st century museum in Kanazawa is by far their best work i have seen this house included.
i am in a hurry so i will let you all know how to get there in detail when i get back to the US in a few days.
by the way, there is a Tyo ito solo exhibit at the opera city gallery, shinjuku… http://www.operacity.jp/ag/exh77/index_e.html
i am going tomorrow, should be good.
sayonara
November 27th, 2006 at 6:28 pm
Nice one Ryan, go to the top of the class.
Let me know where it is, and I will append the directions to the main article.
And I agree- the Kanazawa museum is extraodinary.
November 28th, 2006 at 6:18 pm
Ryan, is there any way you could post directions in the next 2 days? I’m leaving Tokyo soon!
thanks
travis
November 30th, 2006 at 4:21 pm
Travis/Erica
this website helped me out: http://imomus.livejournal.com/168270.html…at the bottom of the blog, there is a google earth map.
Instead of taking the Tokyu Ikegami Line, I took the Tohoku line from JR Shinagawa sta. (i was staying at Ropponggi)amd when you get off, its a “long” 10-15min walk, use the link above and print yourself a map…. it’s not that straight forward… and the house is a bit small than i thought.
hope this helps… i will check back later to see if you have any questions. Good luck.
December 26th, 2006 at 8:51 pm
This house is really interesting. I think it would be pointed out as play between outside and inside.
March 27th, 2007 at 8:38 pm
I need this building’s plan and elevation.
If you have it, send me, please T.T
March 27th, 2007 at 8:40 pm
my e-mail adress:suwon1205@nate.com
August 16th, 2007 at 2:50 am
I’m an architect from Belgium and have allready been to Tokyo just to see two houses of sejima and Nishisawa. Moriyama house and “house in a plum groove”. This last house is in Setagaya-ku but I don’tknow where precisely. For my way of thinking this are very essential architectures. So if somebody between You all could telll me a little bit precisely where this houses are, I would be very, very happy.
I thank really ionfinitely the person who could help me. Please send a mail to: marc.belderbos@skynet.be
Thank you all and congratulation for this beautyfull site.
Marc