Gallery and Guest House in Kobe

The three functional zones of this building – a gallery with guest rooms and a workshop – are housed in separate timber volumes stepped up a hill at different levels. Between the closed volumes containing the rooms of the house is an open wood-strip screen that affords a view out from the courtyard within. This half-internal, half-external space forms the centre of the introverted building. Large glass sliding doors, comparable to traditional Japanese paper screens, allow the rooms to be linked with each other across the courtyard. The walls, floors, casements and doors are in specially selected walnut from China. The use of this homogeneous wood facilitated the unusual form of wall construction with vertical timbers set in the direction of growth.