Minimalissimo

Opening Next to the Park

architecture

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Location
Ebetsu City, Hokkaido, Japan
Architecture
Qukan
Photography
Ikuya Sasaki

Located in a residential neighbourhood in Hokkaido, Japan, the minimal yet unusual house designed by Qukan perches on a quiet corner across from a small children’s park. Boasting a crisp white facade with simple timber accents, the project's distinctive feature is a large, curtain wall device that punctuates the eastern elevation and conceals a versatile, semi-enclosed transitionary space.

An enclosed semi-external space named "outer living room, inner courtyard" was created so as to continue from the internal space, and through this semi-external space, a sense of visual distance was secured between the internal space and the park. As if hollowed out into the park, the large opening on the border with the outside was set up with an external curtain made of tent fabric as a device to change the character of the semi-external space.

The "outer living room" facing the second floor exists like a veranda, but by closing the curtain it becomes one with the interior, and the "inner garden" on the first floor transforms into a more enclosed space like a courtyard.

The exterior curtain and the elevation with a large opening exist like a stage curtain in a park. The expression that sways with the wind may bring a new rich expression to the park.

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