House in Maitamon / Tomohiro Hata Architect and Associates

+28

Description submitted by the project team. This is a project to rebuild an old house in Muko City, Kyoto Prefecture. Farmlands and bamboo forests extend around the site. Since ancient times, the area has been bounded by stone walls and dotted with agricultural-style rooms, each composed of a main house and a group of several other residences forming a single dwelling. In recent years, due to rapid urbanization in central Kyoto, many agricultural-style houses have been demolished and dismantled. The land has subsequently been subdivided into a mosaic of historic residences and new homes, regardless of the history of the prefecture.

When planning a new residence in such a location, we thought the challenge was how to overlap the two temporal axes of life rooted in past history and modern times, and create a new way of life that ensured a balance between the two points of view.

Specifically, there are two elements that characterize the traditional farm style house. It is typically a spacious living area that includes open space and fields for agricultural work and cultivation, and a hierarchical group of buildings centered on the main house. These two characteristics are rooted in local life and have a deep connection with its history.

On the other hand, in modern residential life, it seemed natural to dissolve the main building-centered hierarchy of agricultural-style houses and change it to the living state of a series of neutral and free living spaces.

This led to a form in which small groups of houses, which define the residence, are not connected hierarchically, as in the old style of country houses, but continually collide and merge with each other, enclosing a large living area. as a whole. It could be defined as a Japanese courtyard derived from agricultural settlements.

By overlaying the unique way of life in this area with the history of the villages centered on ancient agriculture and the modern way of life, this contemporary residence connects with local tradition and is an attempt to expand the living space in recognition of the city.