Moriyama House is a cluster of small cuboid complexes ranging from one to three stories high. Living rooms, bathrooms, storage houses are detached and scattered to form a myriad of living quarters on a corner lot. Thus, the overall density is low which avoids the typical closed and large volume.
The indiscreet yet numerous openings of the garden along the street allows multiple access into the maze like garden. There is no main entrance. Every alley can lead into a surprising unit. The boundary between the street, the property, the landscape and building is not strictly defined.
Traces of daily activities are spilled out into the garden: clothes hanger and wet clothes hung on the branches; collection of sneakers and a luggage is parked in the alley between two living room cuboid complexes.
Extreme minimal and white little structures have been 'tied' invisibly by the network of meandering gardens, narrow or wide, and also the large but carefully planned glazed openings of each house. In the process, the usual cold and bland modernist white boxes have become surprisingly humane and welcoming.
Tokyo 2014
12 апр 2014
