Murakoshi Maison by Hiroki Watanabe is a highly esteemed winner of the very prestigious 2023 A' Design Award d'Argent in Design d'Architecture, Bâtiment et Structure Competition Category.

ArgentArchitecture· 2023

Murakoshi Maison

by Hiroki Watanabe

Client: S Design Farm

A' Design Award d'Argent Winner in Architecture Category

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Verified Award Winner
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The Design

About Murakoshi Maison

Une maison urbaine intégrant les crues dans sa conception. Cette maison avec une façade monolithique et un garage à accès direct avec une fondation élevée est située sur un terrain d’angle pentagonal qui devrait être encombré de piétons. La conception présente une ouverture plane et transversale pour permettre à la lumière et au vent de pénétrer à l’intérieur tout en tenant compte de la commodité des personnes et des voitures tout en déviant l’eau. Ce travail explore une approche simple et sensée du futur logement urbain en mettant l’accent sur les catastrophes naturelles.

The Recognition

About the A' Design Award d'Argent

Murakoshi Maison est lauréat de l'A' Design Award d'Argent, une reconnaissance énormément prestigieuse décernée à des designs haut de gamme, superbes et impressionnants. Les lauréats Argent sont des œuvres tout à fait brillantes et extrêmement créatives qui illustrent l'expertise, le talent et la perspicacité remarquables de leurs concepteurs. Murakoshi Maison est censé être une œuvre merveilleuse, une vitrine de savoir-faire, remarquablement professionnelle et profondément innovante. Ce design lauréat de l'A' Design Award d'Argent est une invention très notable et admirée, qui sert l'art, la science, le design et la technologie et en repousse les limites. Murakoshi Maison est une création très enviée qui éveille les désirs, apporte des sentiments positifs et suscite émerveillement et étonnement.

Behind the Design

Press Kit

Credits, team members and technical details provided by the designer.

Unique Properties: An urban house integrating flood waters into its design.
The house, with its drive-through garage using a high foundation and monolithic facade that takes into account sight lines and sound, was designed to achieve safety and comfort for the client while creating a duality of open public and introverted private living spaces that maintain an appropriate sense of distance from the surrounding environment. This work explores a simple, yet make sense, future urban housing with an eye toward natural disasters.
Dimensions & Packaging: The building use is a private residence for a couple.
The construction type is new construction. The structure is wooden, two stories above ground with a high foundation and a loft. The site area is 73.92m2 and the total floor area is 81.73m2.
Tags: House, Urban, Flood waters, High foundation, Openness, Safety
Production Technology: In order to maximize the building-to-land ratio, a pentagonal plan configuration was chosen to match the site shape, and the cross-sectional configuration of the second floor and loft was selected in consideration of height restrictions, fire prevention regulations, and structural planning.
To minimize the impact on the building in the event of flooding, the first floor was planned with a high foundation.
The space was designed to make the most of the site conditions.
Design Challenge: The Murakoshi House faced the challenge of how to create a safe and comfortable place to live, given its low elevation, the risk of flooding due to its location in a valley, and the dense surrounding area. Considering the effects of recent climate change and rising electricity costs, the key point was how to create comfort, and architectural innovations and facilities were planned to withstand these factors.
Research: In order to reduce running costs and the burden on the global environment, the insulation performance was set to a high level (insulation grade 6), and a level of almost no heating was implemented even in winter by minimizing the number of windows, using a Ua value of 0.37, using heat exchange ductless ventilation, and thorough air sealing measures.
Inspiration: Safety and Comfort from Openness.
The site is a pentagonal shaped site facing a three-way street with a lot of pedestrian and vehicular traffic, and adjacent to a waterway that was predicted to flood, making it a complex intersection of various elements. Therefore, we created a three-dimensional openness to the elements of light, wind, people, cars, and water that surround the site, allowing light and wind to flow into the interior and creating an architecture that dodges water while considering convenience for people and cars.
Project Duration: The design period for the Murakoshi House is six months, from November 2020 to April 2021. The construction period is seven months, from May 2021 to December 2021.

The planned site is located in Ota Ward, Tokyo, Japan. It is located on the bottom of a mortar-shaped valley that stretches to the south of Senzoku Ike Pond.
Operation Flow: Murakoshi House faced the challenge of how to create a safe and comfortable place to live, given its low elevation, the risk of flooding in the valley, and the densely populated surrounding area. In addition, taking into consideration the effects of recent climate change and rising electricity costs, the key point was how to create comfort, and architectural innovations and facilities were planned to withstand these factors.
Image Credits: Image #1: Photographer Yasutaka Kojima, Variations, 2022.
Image #2: Photographer Koichi Torimura, Variations, 2022.
Image #3: Photographer Yasutaka Kojima, Variations, 2022.
Image #4: Photographer Yasutaka Kojima, Variations, 2022.
Image #5: Photographer Koichi Torimura, Variations, 2022.