The Pitched Roof 住宅 by Takaharu Tezuka and Yui Tezuka

The Pitched Roof 住宅 by Takaharu Tezuka and Yui Tezuka is a highly esteemed winner of the very prestigious 2021 A' Design Award 银奖 in 建筑与结构设计 Competition Category.

银建筑· 2021

The Pitched Roof 住宅

by Takaharu Tezuka and Yui Tezuka

Client: Tezuka Architects

A' Design Award 银奖 Winner in 建筑 Category

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The Design

About The Pitched Roof 住宅

「坡屋顶」是一座位于日本轻井泽的单层住宅，覆盖于一片极为简洁的坡屋顶之下。屋顶之下仅有四成空间被围合，因而内与外的界限保持柔和。悬挑屋顶伸出超过六米，而结构厚度仅为200毫米。一个折叠的L形面板作为单体壳结构发挥作用，减少了所需的支撑构件。推拉门让居住者得以自由改变生活空间的性格。这座住宅以当代方式重新诠释了日本传统建筑深远出檐的意韵。

The Recognition

About the A' Design Award 银奖

The Pitched Roof 住宅是 A' Design Award 银奖得主，这是授予顶级、华美而令人印象深刻的设计的极为崇高的认可。银奖得主是极其卓越、极具创造力的作品，展现出其设计师杰出的专业技能、才华与敏锐。预计The Pitched Roof 住宅将成为一件出色的典范之作，兼具非凡的专业性与深刻的创新性。这件赢得 A' Design Award 银奖的设计是一项备受瞩目、令人钦佩的发明，造福并拓展艺术、科学、设计和技术的边界。The Pitched Roof 住宅是一件令人羡慕的创作，它唤起渴望，带来积极的情感，并激发惊叹与赞叹。

Behind the Design

Press Kit

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

Unique Properties: This is a house located in Karuizawa, Japan with an extremely simple pitched roof. Traditional Japanese houses do not create enclosed environments but instead, form spaces that enable easy transition from the inside to the outside. By forming a blurred boundary, only forty percent of the space under the roof is enclosed within the interior. While the inside is being used primarily by the inhabitants as living spaces, it is the outside that defines it.
Dimensions & Packaging: Floor: Single floor
Ceiling Height: 2,100 mm
Roof Height: 3.446 mm
Site Area: 1,059.18 m2
Floor Area: 208.56 m2
Tags: House, Pitched Roof, Cantilevered, Japanese, Deep eaves, Boundary, Wood structure,
Production Technology: The cantilevered roof of over 6 meters, pushes the limit of the 200mm thick roof structure. By adopting a folded shape as the main structural element, it minimizes the support needed as compared to having a flat roof, which would require three times more of the support utilized. Like the Japanese papercraft, Origami, the L-shaped surface acts as a monocoque element – not resisting stiff but drooping about 5 centimeters under snow pressure like tree branches in the forest.
Design Challenge: In Traditional Japanese Houses, the space under the eaves is often associated with columns. However, these columns serve purely as structural elements to support the cantilevered edges and are not crucial in enclosing the space. Had technology been much more advanced, we would have been able to design without columns years ago. We are now able to achieve the real intricate quality of open spaces in Japanese Architecture - a feat that was not possible for carpenters 400 years ago.
Research: The pitched roof house is trying to reach a certain level of mutability by re-interpreting the traditional elements into modern context. In aiming to heighten qualities of architectural mutability, the work is tied into a long tradition of Japanese vernacular architecture known for its sliding doors, screens, and other boundary-modulating elements, such as deep eaves. These elements not only create the spatial fluidity, but also open the architecture to life-giving elements of sunlight, wind, and humidity, modestly scaled the ubiquitous digital lifestyle with a return of nature.
Inspiration: Deep eaves, as one of the most important Japanese traditional architecture elements in local monsoon climate, are almost extinct in modern houses. It is essential to comprehend the meaning of these traditional elements in the modern setting. With the latest technology, the house seek to reinterpret the deep eave in the context of a humid climate, retain and create more opportunities for these distinctive Japanese qualities to sprout forth in modern architecture.
Project Duration: The project started in July 2007 and finished in May 2009 in Karuizawa, Japan
Operation Flow: The house is designed for a well-known Japanese pop songwriter who wanted to create a place where he could disconnect from the pressures of daily life. The space enclosed enables the inhabitants to perform their basic living tasks while open space under the deep eaves allows them to connect to nature and the surroundings. The sliding doors which divide the inside from the outside can be used to realize the shift in ambiance within the living space.
Team Members: Constructor: Niitsugumi Co., Ltd.
Structure: OHNO-JAPAN
Lighting: BONBOLI Lighting Architect & Associates
Landscape: GA Yamazaki
Image Credits: Image #1: Photographer Katsuhisa Kida, FOTOTECA, 2009.
Image #2: Photographer Katsuhisa Kida, FOTOTECA, 2009.
Image #3: Photographer Katsuhisa Kida, FOTOTECA, 2009.
Image #4: Photographer Katsuhisa Kida, FOTOTECA, 2009.
Image #5: Photographer Katsuhisa Kida, FOTOTECA, 2009.