Month: March 2020

A rental villa called Private Villa JUGE, is located on a famous traditional tourism spot in Higashiyama Kyoto. The two story with two bedrooms and two tatami-rooms wooden villa is composed of generous private space, full sunlight through three individual gardens and modern interior inspired by Japanese elements. A main purpose of the project is to establish new value by creation a modern architecture incorporating traditional Japanese ethos, because the villa is a new building in especially traditional area in Kyoto where there are already a lot of historical buildings including large temples and small houses. Therefore it is composed of the reinterpretation of Japanese elements with fresh sensibilities avoiding the old traditional method that has remained unchanged.

The project comprised alterations and additions to an existing red brick cottage in O’Connor. The primary components of the client brief included improved access to natural daylight & connection to rear yard, additional living spaces, good passive thermal performance, and flexibility of use. The existing cottage was renovated to provide new flooring finishes, new double glazed windows, wall and roof insulation and re-programming of some interior rooms. Strategically located skylights were added to increase natural daylight exposure and new roof tiles and sarking were installed. The existing house was largely retained in terms detailing and trims, The northern portion of the old house was re-programmed into a parents wing comprising bedroom, robes and ensuite. The southern portion of the house is used as living and “flexible” spaces that can become a study, spare bedroom, work out room etc.

‘Summmoru’ is a single family house in Jeju, South Korea. It is the southernmost island in South Korea. It is Korea’s the most popular travel spot for nature including ocean and mountain. Driveway to the site follows a sea shore covered with basalt rocks. The site is 140m away from the shore and it is right in front of a small hill covered with bushes and trees. It may seem the mt. Sanbang and the shore is a key from a map. However, a small hill standing beside the site is very strong and it is not very difficult to know that it is a key of this site. In order to understand the site better, team spent a day and night at the site. Through this study, the site almost felt like an orchestra of the nature. It was almost impossible to make this experience better through the architecture. Indeed, while there is a natural orchestra everywhere, it was hard to concentrate on a single subject. Therefore, architecture can value these individual subjects.

The house is the result of its development from the inside out. The program’s needs were generating volumes that were initially not programmed. It was an option to let the project take its course and assume this aesthetically. The backyard guarantees a colorful background for all rooms of the house.