Page 71 - AIT0324_E-Paper

Entwurf • Design Shuhei Goto Architects, JP-Iwata
Grundriss 1. Obergeschoss • Floor plan level +1
Bauherr • Client Shuhei Goto, JP-Iwata
Standort • Location JP-Iwata Shizuoka
Nutzfläche • Floor space 67 m 2
Fotos • Photos Kenta Hasegawa
Mehr Infos auf Seite • More info on page 134
BLUE HOUSE FLAT
IN IWATA
The house, built in the 1980s, is located in the centre
of the city of Iwata, on the east coast of Japan’s main
island of Honshu. When it was due to be demolished,
Shuhei Goto Architects purchased it. They remodelled
it while retaining the existing structure. Thanks to flexi-
ble furnishings and an illusion of perspective, the limi-
ted space now appears larger than it actually is.
S huhei Goto Architects wanted to preserve the external appearance
of the house as it was originally. Through targeted deconstruction
measures, they restored the symmetry that once existed in the façade
but had been lost over time due to extensions and alterations. The
blue façade colour was not only retained, but even continued in the
interior with a slightly brighter shade. On the ground floor level – where
a dentist’s surgery used to be before the conversion – there is now an
office. The renovated flat is located above. The architects have made
the 67 square metres available for this purpose appear as spacious as
possible with an open and flexible design. All the private rooms are
open towards the living space and the void above it and also open
towards the outside as well. The centrepiece is the family’s central mee-
ting point: a piece of cooking-, dining- and living-room furniture whose
table tops take on different functions at different heights and sometimes
alternate between being used as a table and as a bench. An elongated
infrastructure box for cables, lighting, shelving and a ventilation fan
“floats” above it. The architects also wanted to make the view from the
living- and dining area out into the garden appear more generous than
it actually is with its width of a mere 1.80 metres. They therefore play
with an illusion of perspective: the size of the gravel stones decreases
sharply the further away you get from the house – which reinforces
the perspective effect and is intended to make the garden strip appear
wider than it actually is. However, the most striking design element of
the remodelling is definitely the highly innovative multi-layered curtain
– which has been developed in collaboration with the artist Akane Mori-
yama. Countless metres of fine silk with the delicate colour gradients
typical of Moriyama’s work separate the sleeping area and the staircase
from the central living space. The five-layer curtains can be opened or
closed layer by layer to adjust the degree of transparency as desired.
Five layers on top of each other act as a visual and acoustic “wall”, a
single layer is no more than a delicate touch of silk – and when the
curtain is fully opened, the flat is able to appear in its full size.
AIT 3.2024 • 071