Located at the foot of Mount Rokko, House in Ashiya is a 2019 project of a small house by Kazunori Fujimoto Architects. This house has a unique spiral staircase designed to create space under itself and to occupy the minimum possible area.
Design
Sits on a site with a green scenery of the mountain, this small house has a strong relationship to the geometrical composition. It also expresses the relationship between the family and the relationship between inside and outside spaces.
A constriction in a one-room space is created by two squares. Different recesses can be found on the first floor while a cross-wall divides the square on the second floor. In the cire center of the house, a spiral staircase is used to connect the three spaces.
Interior
There is an opening in the living room that is set at a certain height to block outside views to ensure privacy. The windows on the second floor are placed in the middle of the outer wall to make the two areas share one window. A sense of safety in the house is ensured by the surrounding wall.
A space under the unique spiral staircase can be used as a corridor while the curved spaces of this staircase can give softness to the interior. A sculptural geometric form becomes the Yorishiro (object in which a spirit draws) that symbolizes the family’s unity.
Details
The thickness is the beauty of the concrete spiral staircase which is invisible at its outer and inner. It also has a right triangle vertical-section slab that combines oblique and right helicoids. The bottom is an oblique helicoid while the top surface is the right helicoid.
House in Ashiya Gallery
Photography: Kazunori Fujimoto