view from railway / Vincent Hecht

K House

PrizeHonorable Mention in Architectural Design / Small Architecture

Firm LocationTokyo, Japan

CompanyOSO

Lead ArchitectEsteban Ochogavia / Michael Sypkens

Design TeamTanaka Tsuyoshi, Koki Shibata, Maureen Menzel

Projecthttps://o-s-o.jp/#k-house

K House is situated in a dense urban neighborhood and faces a busy railway. Normally the basic need for privacy and sound insulation would lead to a closed building. Here the design tries to do the opposite by opening up to the surroundings as much as possible. Windows of various shapes and sizes are carefully placed to frame pockets of nature that elude the city: the sky over the railway, the semi-enclosed garden, the patches of greenery outside low windows and deep eaves. Aesthetically, the informal language of the roof planes echoes the clashing rooflines of the Japanese neighborhood.