The Kodaira-shi Residence by Makoto Tanijiri (Suppose Design Office)

The site is located in such a manner that it has direct access from the public street; as it is level to the street, it therefore lacks solitude. However, the owners asked for a garden, a private space for the kids to play and the family to socialize in the open-air. Due to the given conditions, the program called for designing a house which would be open to the outside, yet it would be able to provide for a private space which would create a barrier between the indoors and outdoors. The total plot area is 117.29square meters (1,262.5 square feet) and building regulations restricted the building area to 50.87 square meters (547.6 square feet), leaving the residual as garden space. The principal asked for a garden which would be used as much as possible; a garden which would be part of the program and the architectural design. This would be a garden which would connect the exterior to the interior, but also act as an obstacle to the passers-by; making the courtyard as a semi-private zone.

Suppose Design Office hopes that the architectural design for the Kodaira-shi residence will be a good initiative with which to create an environment where more communities will engage in this neighbour-like environment, like those that existed in the past and which still exist today in closed communities. They anticipate that the Kodaira-shi residence will remind people of the new relationship between a city and the buildings – the buildings and the people – and re-evaluate the function, the program, and the meaning of the word HOME!

Location: Kodaira city, Tokyo – Japan
Principal use: Residential
Site area: 117.29sqm
Building area: 50.87sqm
Total floor area: 93.04sqm (1F:50.75sqm 2F:42.29sqm)
Completion Date: February 2009
Architect: Makoto Tanijiri [Suppose Design Office]
Photographer: Toshiyuki Yano