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Architecture | Residential & Houses

FU-MA


Matsuyama Architect and Associates



Short description

The site is located in a once-flourishing town during Japan's modernization era, now seemingly deserted. East of the site, a busy railway with about 250 trains daily causes constant noise and vibration. To the north, the drinking quarter makes it less than ideal for residential use. Moreover, recent severe flood damage memories linger in the minds of clients who have lived here since childhood.Our challenge was to create a rigid structure to combat these negative environmental factors by embracing them and designing a comfortable living environment.We designed a three-story building with the primary living space on the second floor, where most essential activities could be completed as if it were a single-story dwelling. To support the large second-floor volume, we introduced series of two and three-story high load-bearing walls and applied two unbonded PC cables along the east-west axis to enable a cantilevered structure extending 5.6m east and 3.2m south. The symbolic U-shaped wall also assists the southern cantilever.The east facade’s first-floor wall was set back from the railway, with complex-profile second-floor structures and third-floor eaves blocking noise, vibration, and street views. Gaps between these structures allow natural light and external ambiance into the internal space. Large glazed openings face the courtyard, extending the interior space towards the semi-open external area. The main space on the second floor connects to the third-floor theater room via a double-height space. An east-west axis from the first-floor courtyard to the third-floor terrace is connected sectionally, while a north-south axis from the second-floor terrace at the south to the stairwell at the north is integrated into the plan. This interaction between internal and external spaces creates diverse interior environments. The client's determination to live in this area, despite its challenges, shaped this architecture, providing an open, extraordinary, and tranquil living experience.

Entry details
LocationFukuoka Prefecture-Japan
Lead designerMasakatsu Matsuyama
Photography creditsPhoto by Toshihisa Ishii
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