Holiday Home with Studio in Funabashi
- Sabine Drey
The owners of this single-family house west of Tokyo wanted to upgrade it in order to use it as a holiday home, but also to rent it out during the week as a studio. The architects removed the balcony extending across the south facade and the existing windows. They also extended the punctuated facade another story to give definition to the roof terrace. At a distance of 30 cm to the facade they erected a new glass skin with sliding elements – as a light-weight thermal skin that sheathes the uninsulated building. Between the two layers an 8-metre-high curtain provides solar control. In this way the architects created a close link between the newly planted garden and the interior. Moreover, the reflection of light on the glass brightens up the shady garden. The steel frames, which possess slender mullions, divide the 3-storey facade into two main parts. This clever design decision tranforms the middle rail: it serves not only as the guiderail for the sliding elements, but is also the balustrade accompanying the apertures – which once held windows but are now empty – in the concrete wall. Although there is little leeway for deformation of the welded steel-flat frames, the mullions are extremely slender, because they support only the thin glass skin – and themselves.
