Inspiring view: Le 49: A Japanese house by Apollo Architects & Associates.

Conceived by Apollo Architects & Associates for a well-travelled Japanese couple with a love of European architecture, Le 49 is contemporary, and unmistakably Japanese in spirit and in detail. Designed around a stunning view of Mount Kamakura the building has levels corresponding with a private workshop, lounge areas where a lot of entertaining of foreign guests will take place, and the more private … lets call it the apartment, where the occupants will mostly live. In the organizational zoning of the building a time honoured tradition is followed reminiscent of classical buildings for important people such as heads of state. Here however there is far less formality. The principle zones are arranged in overlapping rectangular volumes that are orientated according to the views, their function and in response the steeply falling topography of the site. This arrangement allows interesting corners that can provide alternative views of the landscape including the enclosure of a small courtyard planted with a memorial tree. The clean and crisp interiors rely on the beautifully articulated timber roof which gives warmth and sculptural texture to the spaces. It also reminds the occupants that they are in a rural landscape... as if they could forget with such a magnificent view.