An increase in proposals relating to lifestyle in personal residence and small sized apartment housing applications

Naka: This year there was an increase in housing applications with proposals relating to lifestyle for detached housing and small sized apartment housing. Questions like "How about this way of living?" and "What kind of distance do you want to live from nature and outside people?" have been positively tackled and, while there's been some flailing around, an attitude of trying to create and apply unprecedented approaches has been reflected, which I think has led to an increase in meaningful and significant implementations.

Nariwai Apartment [KEYAKI NO OTO TERRACE] (GOOD DESIGN BEST100)

As one example of these implementations, this is a case that has attempted to mix a private living space with other elements. This "Keyaki No Oto Terrace" has renovated an old apartment building in the suburbs to produce an apartment building that mixes together housing with places for work. With the expected development of a gallery and shops to establish workspaces, it becomes a facility where it is easy to invite people from outside to come and gather together.

Collective Housing+Shop+Co-working Office [NISHIKASAI APARTMENTS-2] (GOOD DESIGN BEST100)

This is a multi-functional apartment building that mixes together shops from the first floor with offices and housing on the upper floors. The creation of an alleyway-like space between the building and the adjacent old apartment building, leads to a spatial and functional composition where the activities of the shops and offices seem to overflow to the outside.

This is an example of the functions of living and working being mixed together, which is reflected in the exterior appearance of the construction, and makes a place that actively invites in people from outside. That is what we focused on in the evaluation. In this sense, I think it has a power that exceeds being just a simple design, from the perspective that is has the ability to begin to change the scenery of the town and create a new landscape. Moreover, the administration does not simply involve the management of the building, but an approach that involves running businesses and managing the area. This practice which included the decision whom to invite as a tenant and whom to ask to join the administration was worthy of praise and attention.

Shared House [HATOYAMA HOUSE] (GOOD DESIGN BEST100)

Next is an example of a reformed detached house. This involved the renovation of a vacant detached house to create a shared house for students. Due to opening up the garden toward the outside and the large number of students that settled in, a friendly relationship was created with its surroundings and it gave a vibrant energy to the old existing residential district.

Renovation of House [Observation and experiment - Renovation of a house in Jindaiji] (GOOD DESIGN BEST100)

This is a house for an elderly single person, where the old outside walls have been removed and openings have been increased. Through such renovations at every turn, the house allows the resident to engage more with local people, enriching the private domain with a link to the outside. This is detached housing that is based on the idea that if you live alone, it is safer for people to open up to the outside rather than shut themselves away.

Detached House Renovation [HOWS Renovation "Yakumo HOUSE"] (GOOD DESIGN BEST100)

This is a house renovation carried out by a major house building company, with a proposal that includes distribution. The expressiveness of the interior was particularly impressive.

Each is an example of renovations to existing housing, but you can also see that they share common themes that are reflected in new buildings. They all have the philosophy of loosening boundaries in their pursuit of how best to determine the relationship between the housing and its surroundings, and this is a very suggestive example.

In addition, there was a specific proposal relating to the theme of isolation from the outside while ensuring continuity, as was shown in the demolition and removal of concrete-block walls, which has been a long-standing issue in the construction and housing industry as a whole.

Garden and Exterior [Garden and Exterior/ Nara City]

This was a proposal for the exterior of the house that included improvements to the area around the entrance. By getting rid of the concrete-block wall, I think it clearly demonstrated a reconsidered approach about how to build a point of contact and relationship between the house and the neighborhood.

Readymade House [house of TEIMA]

This is a newly built house and its planning included the place between the house and the road as a third location from the beginning. As control of the line of sight was considered, this location can be used for things like housework, work, childcare and nursing care, as well as being a place that is connected to the outside area, and this thinking of setting up this intermediate area is quite remarkable.

This year we carried out evaluation, also focusing on how private spaces ought to be. Recent housing architecture has placed an importance on opening up to the outside, but it's also extremely important to consider "opening up to the inside" for people living in the house, and how to position spaces with individuality inside the house.

Housing and Japanese style hotel (Ryokan) [Small houses for Ryokan, "Kishi-ke"]

This is a proposal with the objective of renting out rooms for accommodation to mainly inbound travelers, with the idea of getting the residents and the other people to meet each other inside the housing.

House [Branch]

This is a unique house where several families live together in a different form of shared housing. There were multiple forms of living rooms and dining rooms, and the variations of their features and placements and the ways of designing them were of great interest.

Dormitory [Asahi Facilities Hotarugaike Dormitory KAEDE]

This dormitory is designed for the occupants not to be directly conscious of each other, utilizing a spacious layout design, such as semi-outdoor spaces, so that the occupants could sense the presence of others without being too closely brought together. The outside spaces with roofs seen in the design for this dormitory have the possibility for even further development in the future, whether for new buildings or renovations.

Medium to large sized housing complexes seem to have the potential to reconstruct the meaning of living together

Shinohara: As medium to large sized housing complexes and blocks develop and spread over wide areas, people from different generations with different objectives and rights are living together, and we have seen many examples that seem to have the potential to reconstruct the meaning of groups of people living together.

Condominium [PRIME MAISON EGOTANOMORI,GRANDE MAISON EGOTANOMORI] (GOOD FOCUS AWARD [ Community Design])

This is a large-scale development project that combines houses to buy, houses to let, housing for the elderly with services provided (hereafter referred to as serviced elderly housing) and facilities for the elderly. It is noteworthy that this project has not simply built a complex with different types of housing, but also has had its management policies in place and implemented, including actively opening up the facilities to the local community, has put a lot of effort into the operation, and given consideration to blending in with the natural environment of the park on the adjoining land.
Based on a philosophy of allowing different sectors of people to assemble and live together, rather than isolating residents into sectors depending on age and circumstances, the project has created the conditions which allow the coexistence of multiple generations, like the conditions Dojunkai apartment complexes offered when it existed. For example, the residents can move within the premises according to lifestyle changes due to age. That is a worthwhile proposal for today's housing complexes.

Complexed residence for multi-generation [Wellith Forest of Sengawa- Chofu/ Wellith Olive Seijogakuen-mae]

This is also a multi-function complex project based on ready built houses for sale and serviced elderly housing, where the parts connecting the inside and the outside, and the parts between the different services have been carefully designed. Despite limited elements, the links and boundaries between the components have been well designed.

Housing Complex [College link type CCRC OBIRIN GARDEN HILLS]

As there is a focus on the theme of multi-generation housing complexes, this housing complex is not only completed in the architecture, but entails a scheme where it is operated as a community in cooperation with a university. In addition, a wood base is skillfully used for the serviced elderly housing part, which is suggestive in the way of providing food for thought for what design is necessary for serviced elderly housing as a house rather than a facility.

Composite Facility [HYPERMIX MONZEN-NAKACHO] (GOOD DESIGN BEST100)

This is a remarkable example of combining workplaces and housing together. This composite facility has a unique structure and concept. As the first and second floors that make up the ground floors are large open areas that serve as public spaces, and the upper floors above a middle seismic isolator, it has a clear structure for shared offices and housing. And as the floor is used as a shared office in the daytime and as a shared house at night, it has the unique concept of time-sharing for a space. It's the materialization of a place that fuses together existing building types of shared houses, offices and business facilities.

Apartment [Prime Maison Ryogoku] (GOOD DESIGN BEST100)

For this steel framed mid-rise housing complex, the house building company has been reviewing the frame construction and working on the prefabrication of parts, taking advantage of the merits of being its development parent organization. By drastically altering the construction method, it provided a good example of how you can create high quality rooms and presentation in addition to shortening construction time. It is expected that there will be potential applications for future developments of housing complexes.

Condominium [BRANZ ROKUBANCHO]

The design of the underfoot façade, boundaries and ground floors is important from the viewpoint of a housing complex being suitable as an urban interior and scenery, and this is a good example of that.

Community Facility [BRILLIA SHINAGAWAMINAMIOOI Communication Salon OOOI] (GOOD DESIGN BEST100)

It takes a long time to build a housing complex, and from the point of view of what you can do during that time, this is a case of opening up a sales showroom to the neighboring area in an attempt to build a relationship between tenants and the local community even before they live there. It's not just for the purpose of sales, but it's an initiative to make a start of area management, and could be said to be an area design as well as a time design.

Houses for Installment Sale [kiki terrace "houses built for sale in Yachiyo-midorigaoka"]

A characteristic of this block urban development project is that while there are no large open spaces, the narrow areas between housing units is finely designed. Not having dead ends in the lanes within the blocks helps with crime prevention, and creating a network of open lanes produces a situation where people can watch out for each other.

Conclusion: The future of housing complexes involves amplifying an area's resources

Naka: In the design of sizable housing complexes, components like the ground floor, the boundary and the façade are considered important when looking at the tangible sides, and there are many examples where there is a particular focus on the ground floor and I'm interested in the background behind that.

Shinohara: I think it's an expression of a conscious desire to commit to the town. If the first floor is solidly occupied by residences, it has consequences in terms of security provisions, which creates obstructiveness and weakens the vibrancy of the town. A housing complex should make the town better, create dynamism, and lead to an increase in the quality of the site's environment for the housing.

Naka: Especially for housing complexes there is an aspect of using resources that have been cultivated by the area of the housing complex being built, such as having an easy access to the station or having a park. I wonder if in regard to that there is also a motivation from the housing complex side of wanting to provide something for the town?

Shinohara: I think there is the possibility of amplifying the area's resources. Aspects of the housing, and components of that housing's composition, can help revitalize the area's resources, for example even a symbolic single tree can change the surrounding environment.

Naka: Now I think that trend is occurring, not with major developers, but on an individual level, and it's becoming an era where realistic projects are being taken on. As proof of that, from the point of view of space development, the development of intermediate areas, even though only on a small scale, are being worked on, not just for housing complexes but for detached houses too. Before long, if the methods become standardized they should be utilized for large-scale developments. Regardless of the size and scale, it's wonderful that the development of spaces can influence the shaping of the local landscape and lifestyle.