Ochsner House

Building cantilevers over the entrance patio.

Project details

• Project Name: Ochsner House
• Location of Site: Tokyo, Japan
• Design Team: George Dasic; Yuki Miyoshi Nikitaki; Yushi Kobayashi + Kusama Kouzou Sekkei
• Project Type: Single family house
• Client: Charles and Yoko Ochsner
• Contractor/s: Uejima Komuten
• Site Area: 210 sq m
• Built-up Area: 260 sq m
• Date of completion: May, 2007

Window configuration response to the neighboring buildings views.

Words from the architect

The clients, a Swiss husband, his Japanese wife and their three children, had been living in an apartment at the building right next to the current site, for the last 10 years. They own a large collection of art books and furniture, and the wife, a shodo artist, would also like to display her artwork. Their main requirements were:

• A distinct separation between private spaces and a more public living area;
• A place where they would be able to invite family and friends, as well as for business entertainment;
• A strong desire for natural lighting.

Building is "wrapped" around dry garden.

The scheme focused on preserving the autonomy of the clients' lifestyle in relation with the surroundings. The house is positioned at the south side of the site, leaving ample space for two spacious courtyards at the north side. In this way, a "safety zone" is created between the house and the "yet unknown" buildings planned to be build at the two neighboring sites. At the same time, it became possible to deal with the strict building regulations without compromising the project's pure geometric forms.

Living room wit the fire place.

Primarily the house is designed in steel and concrete. Extruded Cement Panels (Flouo-carbon Polymer Paint Finish) are used as the cladding material. They allowed for a high level of building precision as well "texture".

Interior was mostly treated with white paint while floor are trawled concrete and oak flooring. Fire place is clad in the mirror finish stainless steel.

Fire place creates illusion of "floating flame".

The project is divided into three zones. A private zone, containing the family's individual rooms and a utility area is placed on the ground level. An intermediate zone, with a Japanese-style room next to the entrance hall and an atelier on the second level, work as semi-private spaces that make the transition to the main living area a smooth one. The third zone includes the main living areas and it contains no real rooms. There are only functional zones - living, dining, kitchen - whose borders are defined ambiguously by glass opaque screens, ceiling-height variations and interplay of inside-outside space instead of the usual literal doors and partition walls.

Roof terrace allows natural light intake in to the deep pockets of space.

Credits

• Text: George Dasic Architects
• Photographs: Peter Cook