House Kani

House Kani | Gifu,Japan | 2019
[Kraft Architects]

Project background
This is a project for a detached house for a couple and their children in Kani City, Gifu Prefecture. The couple’s only request was, “I want a bright and comfortable house that makes me want to stretch out when I wake up in the morning.” While facing the characteristics of this area, I thought about how to create a bright and comfortable space and a family space.

A private space extending north and south: Microvacuolar.
The planned site is distorted and elongated from north to south, facing a national highway with heavy traffic to the north, the client’s grandfather’s farm to the south, a new residential area to the east, and a farm with a different owner to the west. In planning, we will reveal the spatial inevitability of this land: micro vernacular (a coined word). At first glance, it looks like a roadside residential area in a provincial city, but if you look closely, you will notice that it has a completely different expression depending on the direction, as if to tell the history of the area. We discarded the otherness of the east and west faces, extracted and redefined a private space extending north and south, and put it at the center of the plan to assemble the way the house should be.

House: Spatial composition and structural planning for a community
First, we ensured the volume by maximizing the wall on the south side according to the shape of the site. Then, we placed a living/dining room (family space) with two levels of space in the center of the volume, and placed a plumbing area, an entrance, and each living room (personal space) on both sides. The family space is sandwiched between the personal space, and the structural plan is also organized according to the policy. Secure the necessary amount of walls for the two personal spaces, and plan the family space in the gap between the personal spaces. In addition, the bridge and stairs, which are the line of flow from the first floor to the second floor, also serve as a study corner for the family and a bench that serves one’s location. I feel that it is appropriate that they complement each other rather than standalone like when using laminated lumber with a large cross section, and the bridge is made of 105 square distributed lumber. It is planned as a thin solid slab (mass timber) that is formed by connecting, and the staircase adopts a form in which one end of the slab is suspended from the roof with a rod. I planned as an ideal a state in which the spatial composition, structural planning, and the state of the family should be in harmony.

Light scene
The shape of the roof was carefully considered to prevent direct sunlight from entering the room in midsummer, and high sidelights for daylighting, ventilation, and openings for scenery were planned on each of the north and south sides. The coexistence of two north-south atriums in the living room and dining room makes it possible to clearly feel the change of seasons and time. The warm light that shines through the opening on the south side signals the arrival of winter, and the refreshing morning sun that shines through the opening on the north side announces the arrival of summer. We can feel the change of seasons from the slight differences in the light coming in from each opening. By finishing the walls with washi paper, a shadow is included on the wall, making it possible to project a delicate expression that contains the time that changes from moment to moment.

This house is an everyday space for spending time with the family. Morning comes, night comes, morning comes again. Summer becomes autumn, winter becomes spring, and summer comes again. How irreplaceable time is that is obvious. It may be an exaggeration, but I believe that a space has been created here for a family that exists as a background for the growth of such a family. Text description by the architects,