Architect:  Fujiwarramuro Architects
Location:  Sakai, Osaka, Japan
Project Team:  Shintaro Fujiwara, Yoshio Muro
Principle use:  Single family house
Site area:  103.91 sqm
Building area: 52.17 sqm
Total floor area: 107.49 m2
Structure: Timber
Photographs: Toshiyuki Yano
   
This residential project is built on a flag-shaped site in Osaka surrounded by densely packed buildings. Even when faced with these challenging site conditions, we felt that it would be possible to come up with an interesting design solution based on a structure that appears to “float” in a large, open space. By ensuring a continuous sense of spatial circulation through the flag-shaped portion of the site, the inhabitants of the house are able to “drift” through their favorite spaces like goldfish in a bowl. The sloping structure that extends from the first floor through the second and up until the roof – covering a length of some 25 meters over approximately one-and-a-half revolutions – allows the family members to distribute themselves across its entire length, each occupying a different section of the building. Several beams offer structural support for the wooden slope and spiral-shaped floors of the building, creating a residential space made up of ambiguously demarcated domains that are staggered apart yet also integrated with each other, thereby achieving a sense of breadth and openness.