House in Asaka

This is a partial renovation of the ready-built house situated in the residential area of the vicinity of Tokyo. Standing fully in the lot, as the typical ready-built house, the house had very limited outdoor space. The narrow approach road of the neighbor’s run in front of the main windows. The client felt no privacy from the surrounding and was living in the dimly lit room with the curtain closed all day long. In order to provide a comfortable feel of privacy and seclusion, we introduced the minimum expansion, which functions as the environmental device.

We shifted the exterior wall half a module. From the gap between, the natural light is taken in, diffused by the figured glass and re-diffused by the joist beams stained white. The collected softened light is delivered evenly to the room. From the inside, there is a pool of light in the gap, which gives a feel of the expansive stretch of the space. The house also had many rooms more than needed. Thus, we eliminated the partition walls which divided the room into three and reassembled into a single room.