Home in Kyoto is a "subtle rearranging" of familiar spaces
An expansive gabled ceiling illuminated by clerestory windows shelters the open living spaces of Sugi House, a home in Kyoto designed by Japanese studio Ujizono Architects.
Ujizono Architects co-founders Kazuki Ujigawa and Mirai Ozono aimed to "subtly rearrange" the form of east Kyoto's typical homes, contrasting an enclosed ground floor with an expansive first floor.
"Sugi House is composed of ordinary architectural forms: a pitched roof, a timber structure and a rectilinear plan," the architects told Dezeen.
"However, by making small changes to floor levels, the curvature of the walls, the way light enters and the way the structure is revealed, we shifted the relationship between these familiar forms and everyday life," they said.
"We believe that newness in a house does not have to come solely from creating a form that has never been seen before," they continued.
"It can also emerge by subtly rearranging the spatial relationships with which we are already familiar."
These subtle changes begin at the entrance to Sugi House, where the cedar-clad first floor projects outwards above the home's driveway to shelter its entrance.
On the ground floor, the home has a more typical, enclosed arrangement, with a hallway connecting three bedrooms and a bathroom.
A staircase at the rear of the home leads up into the first floor, where the home opens up into a singular, expansive living, kitchen and dining space illuminated by clerestory windows within a lantern-like gable ceiling.
These high-level windows were used as a means of creating a sense of light and openness in the space without the risk of overlooking from the directly neighbouring properties.
"Moving between the two floors produces a gradual transition between inward and outward states of living," said Ujigawa and Ozono.
"In this house, openness does not come from looking outside through a large window, but from sensing the presence of the exterior through light and air."
While none of the first floor spaces are strictly divided, the high-ceilinged living space is separated from the lower kitchen and dining area by a curved timber form, which conceals a ladder-like stair up to a mezzanine.
This curved form is echoed in a lower ceiling above the kitchen counters, finished like the rest of the walls in pale paintwork that is contrasted by the warm timber of the home's furniture, floors and exposed roof structure.
"The timber frame is not concealed by finishes," said Ujigawa and Ozono. "Its sloping beams are exposed within the interior, allowing the structure to become more than an element that simply supports the building."
"By limiting the material palette, we wanted the different qualities of the spaces to emerge through variations in light, distance and time, rather than through changes in materials," they added.
Other homes in Japan recently featured on Dezeen include a home in Shimane Prefecture by local studio Enter-Archi, which also has a distinctive timber roof designed to both maximise views of the surrounding mountains and prevent the build-up of snow.
The photography is by Amu Photograph.
The post Home in Kyoto is a "subtle rearranging" of familiar spaces appeared first on Dezeen.
