This is a small house planned in a forest surrounded by rich nature.
The site is located in the foot of a mountain with scarce neighboring
houses in Onomichi City. The family is consisted of two daughters,
their mother and their loving cat. Since there are only three women,
we thought it would be appropriate to gently connect a boundary of
the place’s environment and architecture, allowing close distance
between the family members. It is to seize the environment as
non-dividable, similar to creatures that generate their nest under
elements that cover forest’s ground. It is like a principle that expands
from a nest in a forest, to a forest , then to the earth, and ultimately
to the universe.
This time we sought a single space that comprehends the surroundings
and the house by rethinking elements such as floors and walls that make
up architecture. Specifically, in the ground layer some spaces are connected
to each other by a tunnel that becomes a concrete anthill nest attached
with a small entrance on the ground. Above the ground a floating wooden
nest box composed of things like branches and fallen leaves cover the nest
on the ground’s surface. Although non-sequence composition of the floors
and the walls make the architectural elements look separated, they will
become essentials that link architecture and the surrounding in succession,
when viewing the environment on the whole.
The house will offer spaces that is similar to the forest’s comfortable
sunshine and shade, which reside with natural climate. The house will be
a nest in a forest that its territory will not be regulated.
