Architects: fuse-atelier: fuse-atelier (Shigeru Fuse)
Area: 48 m²
Year: 2011
Photographs: Shigeru Fusez
City: Abiko
Country: Japan
House in Abiko, designed by fuse-atelier, is a unique residence for a couple in their thirties in Abiko City. The design features a gallery-like concrete space to highlight their designer furniture. Built on a soft foundation, the house uses a cantilevered structure with minimized ground contact to reduce costs. The living spaces, characterized by three-dimensional slanted surfaces, open to the surrounding greenery, creating a harmonious blend of interior and exterior. The concrete monocoque form and sash-less glass details emphasize the house’s distinctive design, creating a dynamic interplay of light and space.
This project is a residence for a couple in their thirties, located in Abiko City. The client wanted a gallery-like concrete space to showcase their designed furniture.
The site is located at the bottom of two plateaus on a soft foundation, necessitating the use of stakes to support the reinforced concrete structure. To reduce costs, the contact area with the ground was minimized, and the number of stakes was reduced. Consequently, the upper structure was cantilevered. The walls and roof slab were formed into three-dimensional continuous slanted surfaces to rationalize stress transmission, resulting in a distinctive design.
The second-floor living/dining room features an open layout facing the greenway, integrating the south-side trees into the interior space. The haircutting space was elevated by 1.2 meters from the second floor, providing views of the greenway and the upper side of the parking area on the north side, while also controlling sightlines from the surroundings. The interior space was given modulated proportions and scales to suit each activity.
The monocoque form made of concrete is shaped to accommodate the spatial volumes needed for the living room, cutting space, and wet area. The rigid structure enabled a sash-less detail of glass, aligning the exterior wall with the same surface, creating a facade that emphasizes various facets.
The residence creates multiple senses of distance through its form, which pursues spatial relationships and structural rationality. The angles of the multi-surface composition divide the space while maintaining connections, creating sequences enhanced by the reflection and refraction of natural light.
Project Gallery
Project Location
Address: Abiko, Chiba, Japan
Location is for general reference and may represent a city or country, not necessarily a precise address.
