Suppose Design Office architects believe that architecture design is about creating the space. At the same time, it means dividing inside and outside clearly. For their project House in Utsunomiya, the architects brought a large gabled rood on the site, and then panned the simple volume of the house under the roof. Between the volume of the house and the roof, there is an ambiguous middle area, both inner and outer, that connects the inside and outside gradually like an Engawa, a Japanese style verandah. This middle area creates shade, and works to thermal environment. Also, it makes an opportunity to use outside actively. A family can have an open-air meal, or use the garden on rainy days, which changes the atmosphere of the daily life inside an ordinary house.
“We believe that we are able to find nostalgic modernity in which incorporate both historical and contemporary background together by considering the beginning of contemporary architecture as well as the beginning of historical architecture, starting from a roof,” says the team.
all images © Toshiyuki Yano Photography