WORKS

WORKS

神ヶ谷の家 House of Kamigaya

Kamikuro district, Nishi-ku, Hamamatsu City. This house was built in Kamigayani, at the southern end of the Mikatahara Plateau.
It was built as a house for a young couple who run a tea manufacturing business. On the site, large pine and persimmon trees that have been cherished by the parents spread their branches and leaves majestically. Trees that have lived with the family over time bring a unique sense of stability. The young couple, who will be responsible for the next generation, wanted to pass on their memories of these trees to the new house, and based on this desire, the site plan was developed. At the same time, one of their visions for the future is to open a "café/tea house" operated by a long-established tea shop. This is a new development in the succession of the family business to the next generation, and the family's foundation in the tea industry will continue into the future.
For these reasons, we aimed to create a house that would fully demonstrate the stability nurtured by the history and the dream for the next generation.

The exterior of the house, which was created with an awareness of being "rooted in the ground," is strongly individualistic and blends in with the surrounding environment through the natural color of the slate. The aged pine and persimmon trees have great strength of their own, and their strong trunks and assertive foliage colors go well with the rather achromatic exterior walls. The interior of the house is designed to be open to the inside, with an interesting layout of rooms while maintaining a sense of livability. The space is designed to be open and imaginative for the growing children, but also to function as a café. By blurring the partitions around the courtyard, the interior and exterior are interlinked to reduce the sense of oppression. A latticework of latticework was incorporated into the opening to the existing garden to create a calm and serene look. The limited floor space is effectively utilized by creating a space between the earthen floor and the wooden flooring area, with the difference in level being used as a chair. The overall design of the house is clean, and the lighting and the shadows cast by the sunlight through the trees are used to emphasize the atmosphere of the room. The floor posts in the tatami room were moved from the old main house, adding a fusion of old and new to the room.

Tea is said to be a "perennial crop. It takes about four years from the planting of seedlings until they can be picked, and seven to ten years to obtain a stable yield. The family's tea business has a 120-year history. The family's history has been nurtured through many seasons and many memories. Life in the new building will be a page in their history.

Our tea is like a single malt whiskey.
These are impressive words from a family member. I was very impressed by these words, as I could feel a solid guideline for tea production. I hope this house will be like that for the family. We also hope that, like the tea, it will slowly grow over time, creating more and more memories for the family.

DATA

  • Completion 2016.06
  • Building site Hamamatsu City, Shizuoka
  • Principal use private residence
  • Structure Wooden 2 stories
  • Floor area 198.73㎡
  • Photo Nacasa & Partners

AWORD

  • 2018 Architzer A+Awards2018 Residential-private House(M1000-3000sqft) 特別賞