naf architect & design Inc.

敷地は整形で目黒区の住宅地にあり、面積は約２００㎡で周囲に２〜３階建の隣家が立ち並んでいる。この条件に対し、建主は当初から中庭型の住宅を想定していた。敷地が狭い場合や不整形だと中庭をつくるのに制約を伴うが、確かに今回の条件ならば、無理なく中庭をつくれるのではないかと考えて設計を開始した。

建主の家族は外国籍を持つ夫妻と子供３人で、海外での生活が基準になっているためか、日本の一般的な寸法だと狭く感じてしまうとのことだった。設計の打ち合わせは、当時建主の家族が住んでいた、まさに日本の一般的な間取りの賃貸住宅で行われたが、サイズが大きめのテーブルやソファが並び、生活を楽しむための品々やストックがあちこちに置かれ、狭く感じるのも無理はない状況だった。

数カ国を転居した過程で所有物が増えてしまい、手元に置けないものはコンテナを借りて保管してあるが、本来はそこから新居に持ち込みたいものがあるとのこと。また、夫妻が同時に立てるキッチン、暖炉を備えたリビング、海外から祖父母が来たときに寛げるゲストルーム、妻が近所の友人を招いてヨガをするフリースペース、書斎、緑化、そして何より夫がBBQを心置きなく楽しめるようにすること、などが条件とのこと。こうなるとやはり相応の広さが必要になると感じた。

しかし一方で工事費を限度内に収める必要もある。したがって、中庭の周囲をぐるりと取り巻くドーナツ型の空洞ボリュームを高さ３階分仮定し、そこに必要な部屋を割り当てて埋めてゆく手順で設計を進めた。最終的には殆どが埋まったが、一部を埋めずに残したためにドーナツ型ではなくC型になった。埋まらなかった場所は１階が玄関ポーチ、２・３階はバルコニーであり、それを木製ルーバーとセットにして建物のファサードで縦一列に並べている。中庭はそこから前面道路へと、木製ルーバーの隙間から緩やかに気配が伝わる関係で接続している。

ファサードは前面道路境界から約２．５mセットバックさせてあり、塀を設けていないため、ちょっとした路肩のオープンスペースになっている。今回のように北側で接道している場合、敷地の奥になる南側で庭を確保しようとするため建物が北側に寄ってしまい、セットバックが生じにくいのが一般的だ（実際、付近の多くの住宅がセットバックしておらず、さらに塀を立てている）。しかし今回は建物の中心に庭を確保できているためそれに該当しないことと、なにより建主が前面道路に対する圧迫感をできるだけ減らしたいと望んでいたことが大きい。

新居での生活が始まってしばらくしてから、そのオープンスペースで、家族や友人を交えて新年の餅つきを計画していると建主から聞いた。そうしたことをきっかけに、中庭を介して、少しずつ家族と地域の関係が形成されてゆくならばと嬉しく思った。

－中佐昭夫－

Name of the Project : House Connected by Courtyard
Location : Meguro ward, Tokyo
Category : detached house
Zoning use district : –
Structure : Wood construction
Number of stories : 3 floors above ground
Maximum height : 9.036m
Maximum eave height : 8.755m
Frontal road : 5.450m on the North
Site area : 193.52m2
Building area : 101.60m2
Total floor area : 297.30m2
Design time : October 29, 2018 – November 19, 2019
Construction time : November 20, 2019 – July 22, 2020
Architect : Akio NAKASA(Principal Architect) , Masaya KATO
Photo : Toshiyuki YANO, Tetsuya ITO (8th, 9th, 19th)

A house with 9 jo (approx. 30 m2) courtyard surrounded by three-story walls with large fixed windows. The courtyard provides visual continuity to rooms through glass windows and the family to feel presence of each other sterically.

In the courtyard, deciduous trees reaching third floor are planted with lower trees and undergrowth. Four rain chains are hanging from the roof where rain is collected for irrigation. A large table and benches for ten people with BBQ grill and kitchen are installed on the ground paved with bricks where natural light from the sky falls on the courtyard reflecting on surrounding glass windows, scattering foliage shadows.

The courtyard is outdoor, but its stairs and beams are the same colors as indoor. The color of sash is the same as that of exterior walls and the size of glass windows is maximized to create seamless impression of inside and outside courtyard, giving the courtyard practical use in everyday life.

The premises is in residential area of posh Meguro ward, a square lot of approx. 200m2 surrounded by two- and three- story houses. Given this condition, the client had a house with courtyard in mind at the initial stage. When the lot is too small or irregular shape, plotting courtyard needs a twist, but we had good conditions to start designing a courtyard.

The client family consists of a couple with foreign citizenship and three children who have spent long time outside Japan where standard size of living environment is much larger than that of Japan. We had design meetings in their rented house with a standard Japanese room layout where their large furniture and furnishings were uncomfortably fitted with other life-enriching items and staples randomly placed, giving impression the place being too small for their lifestyle.

Possessions of the client amassed from their living in several countries, some of which were in ren A spacious kitchen for the couple to cook together, living room with fireplace, a guest room for their parents from overseas to stay, free space for yoga lessons with the wife’s friends, library, garden space, spacious and well-equipped BBQ place for the husband were among the list of conditions, all of which require a certain largeness.

At the same time, the construction cost needed to be within the budget. We started by three stories of doughnut shape void around the courtyard and allocated necessary function in the void. The voids were almost filled with specific rooms at the end, except for entrance porch on the first floor and balcony on the second and third floor, making the final shape of void as C. These voids on each floor are placed on the façade of the building with wooden louvers. The courtyard can be accessed from the frontal road through the void, and upper floors are connected to the outside through wooden louver and shadows behind.

The façade is 2.5 m set back from the frontal road, providing an open space in the shoulder as there is no fence. When the façade is on the north frontal road, the house tends to stand on the north end to give way to the garden on the south side, not leaving a setback space. (Adjacent houses actually have fences without setback.) This project has a garden in the center of the building, not needing garden in the south, and the client had requested to ease pressure from the frontal road.

Some time after the family started living in the house, the client told us of their plan to invite their families and friends for We were glad to hear that this occasion may be the first step for the family to gradually establish relations with their community through the courtyard.

– Akio Nakasa –