Text via Uemachi Laboratory
This house is built for couples. The site is situated in the suburbs of Osaka City. There was a 70-year-old house on the site, but this time I was asked to demolish it and rebuild a new wooden structure.
Usually, only a couple would live in this house, but here there are many opportunities to get together with relatives. Whether it is used by only two people or a larger number of people, we have designed it with just the right size and gentle separation of public and private in mind.
The owner was attached to his old house, and there was a request to keep as many trees in the garden as possible. Although the house would be demolished, the trees in the garden could be brought closer to their lives, retaining a memory of the appearance of the former building.
In the place where the former building had its entrance, we created an outdoor lobby that connects the newly rebuilt house and the existing three-story house in a semi-outdoor environment. It serves as a common entrance that gently connects the two households. The three-story house has been renovated and the son’s family lives there now.
Regarding the view of the garden, instead of looking over the entire garden, we added windows so that you can see it as a natural landscape cut out from each place. From the front of the outdoor lobby, you can see the green reflected in the water by your feet so that you can see through the lattice, and in the entrance hall, you can see the green that spreads horizontally from the ground window.
The Chau Doc House brings the outdoors in by way of indoor gardens as well as a water feature by a sitting area, resembling an outside stream. The combination of the timber frames, rotating metal windows, abundance of plants as well as views over a rice field constitute a breezy, relaxed atmosphere throughout the building.
