Sliding Door House

Press Kit

Unique Properties

This is a renovation project for an apartment house with modern use of Japanese traditional sliding doors. Sliding doors have long been used in Japan to control how they connect with nature and people. The 10 continuous sliding doors were inserted instead of a wall. As a result, the space has a high degree of freedom, allowing natural lighting to the corridor and usage according to the various situations. Even in a limited space, the way of living where you can relax and work at home was realized.

Dimensions & Packaging

Total Floor Area: 83.78sqm / Structure: RC / Floor: Tile, Wood flooring /
Wall & Ceiling: Painted Plaster board / Sliding doors: Plywood

Tags

Apartment, Condominium, Japan, Interior, Door, House, Architecture

Production Technology

To realize a beautiful and warm space, the continuous sliding doors, the desk of the workspace and the TV board were made of the same plywood matched with bright flooring. And the glass sliding doors’ wood frames were brought closer color to the owners’ furniture. By finishing the corridor floor with the tiles that are continuous from the entrance, creating a spacious and open space like a Doma floor which is a soil floor in a traditional Japanese townhouse was aimed.

Design Challenge

A challenge was how to beautifully incorporate natural lighting into the center of the dwelling units in the already built apartments. Through research from various perspectives and studies of numerous proposals, a solution called continuous sliding doors was derived. At the construction site, fine adjustments were made so that the continuous sliding door could move smoothly on the existing structure that was slightly distorted.

Project Duration

The project started in February 2020 and finished in July 2020 in Chiba prefecture, Japan.

Operation Flow

The 10 sliding doors ride on two rails and the degree of connection between this side and the other side can be controlled. The children's room can be separated by sliding doors so that small children can have their own room in the future, and the shelves can be used from the corridor. The boundary between the room and the corridor got to be ambiguous. A workspace partitioned by glass sliding doors was set up in the living as they can control how to connect with the family.

Research

As a result of researching a lot of Japanese apartments, there were many cases where the inner corridor was dark and the space had a cold impression. Therefore, it was considered a method of incorporating natural lighting into the corridor inside the dwelling unit. By researching traditional Japanese architecture and using sliding doors, it was succeeded in incorporating natural lighting from the bedroom into the corridor.

Inspiration

COVID-19 changed our lifestyle completely. At-home work has rapidly become widespread with online meetings and students also needed to take online lessons. However, housing space is limited, and if you have small children, you need an environment to watch over them. Such difficult situations inspired us to utilize the Japanese traditional door style for the new style of living. By devising the sliding doors, people can gather in a large room and stay in a private room even in a limited space.

Image Credits

Photographer: Koji Okumura / Forward Stroke Inc.

Patents

Copyrights: Masaki Suzuki Architects

Colors of Sliding Door House