【HIKONE -Flower basket-】
Flowers
For the couples living in this architecture,
five buildings turn into one flower,
and pooled water becomes a seaside,
when they look at the form of windows reflected on the surface of water.
ｔhey look at the water purified by light.
Among the harvest of large flowers, two people, a man and a woman walk to the water side.
Each large flower with a clear shape will tell you that this is the window of your house.
Like a flower basket, shallow water is filled with various shapes of windows, and it covers the site.
And then, they enter into one of these flowers.
Architecture
Windows of this architecture are made to:
・ look beautiful when reflected on the surface of the water.
・ cut out the scenery symbolically.
・ enjoy the pleasant layout of next door windows.
・ make people standing by the windows be a piece of a beautiful picture
・Our concern is not designing an individual window, but one scenery composed by all windows.
・ What is constructed is not windows for each Individual building, but one architecture consisting of five buildings.
・ Making the best use of the surface of water and its reflection, the building will have a lively power.
Light in the garden tells the inherent dream that the interior promises. People pass through various beautiful forms and thus they get to the inside of the building.
The dream is:
Windows of the buildings are like flowers. Like a flower various shapes are formed.
The building disappears, creating one world formed by windows and the surface of water.
Relation between water and built structures
In this architecture we intended to realize a beautiful connection between water and architecture.
Since the site is large, we designed five low buildings. A garden was evenly arranged among buildings. The garden is an important factor for a detached house and this is also true for the collective housing.
Five apartment houses are laid out in V-shape, the shape migrant birds take when they fly in a group. The space between buildings is at least 6.5 meters. The advantage of a V-shaped layout is to let the sunshine into each room on the side of the building. Also it is easy to stagger the placement of windows building by building which avoids eye contact among the residents of each building.
Ponds are made in front of the buildings. Water is also pooled between the buildings. Water plants like acorus calamus and iris will grow there.
Site
Hikone City in Shiga Prefecture is a castle town situated east of Lake Biwa. Hikone Castle, a national treasure is located there. The town plan and the atmosphere as a castle town are still apparent nearby the castle. A part of the stonewalls, earthen walls, waterways, and moats remaining there create a beautiful scenery with a good balance of water areas and structures.
The site is slightly away from the castle town. The scenery nearby the lot is not different from other ordinary Japanese local towns.
The project is a low collective housing built on a large lot with 55x33 meters. There are five apartment houses of three stories. Two units are on the first floor, six units in each building, 30 dwelling units all together.
- Date：「HIKONE」
- Location：Shiga Japan
- Site area：2,408.84㎡
- Total floor area：1,555.29㎡
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