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Article from issue 1+2/2006 »Concrete Construction«

Mini-house in Kobe

documentation p. 28 - 35
Architect Ohtani, Hiroaki | Structural Engineer Touki, Hirokazu |

Drafts
1:20 Sections
1:200 Floor plans
1:200 Sections

This tiny (just 33 m2) plot offered a chance for a young couple to build a house in expensive downtown Kobe. But it meant a radical change of lifestyle. Storage space and separate, closed-off rooms had to be sacrificed. Behind the largely glazed front, some privacy is gained through offsetting the levels inside. Slats built into the facade and a large tree outside also screen the interior.
The space is maximised by using few materials and concealing details. The double-flight staircase, at first sight seemingly over-sized, actually fulfils the same purpose, linking all levels into a single space continuum, and enabling diverse visual connections between the various areas. The wooden steps, also used as seats, take up the theme of the dominant concrete slats.
Throughout the house over 1800 of these precast units were threaded onto vertical steel cables; where they form a continuous unit, they act as structural columns or wall slabs. In the non-supporting sections, the slats are evenly spaced. Steps, seats and counter tops are inserted into these gaps; switches and supply lines are also concealed here.