The essence of this architecture lies in an inner court. The site is located in Sumizome, Fushimi, Kyoto. It’s a small town with a long and distinguished history, situated south of the Tofukuji temple. Facing to south, the building is built on a gentle slope.

The site of a Japanese house is generally small and narrow, as they are located on narrow streets. Even in a historic town, it happens that a narrow street is turned to a main street to become a transportation route for cars. Instead of being a place where the people of the town enjoy living together.

"Therefore in our architecture, we make the inner living space a place to protect what matters in life. We try to protect sky, land and light inside the building". 　

"One's beautiful life shares the destiny with a town. And the first place where people encounter the outside world is a path. We, therefore, try to adjust the form of the path to the history of the town, the clients’ way of living, and the town people’s living. We made architecture with an inner court. This inner court redefines how the form of “people, town and path” should be in Kyoto."

Location: Kyoto Japan
Completion: 2009
Client: Yoshikazu Miyagoshi
Site area: 440.12m2
Total floor area: 859.42m2
Design team: EASTERN design office + HOJO STRUCTURE RESEARCH INSTITUTE
Constructor: KUWAHARA Co., Ltd

Device of the inner court

Summing up the devices of an inner court:

A. There is a revised balance in the inner court, because the hidden place is brighter than the main street.

B.
• Town vs. architecture,
• Main street vs. narrow path,
• Inside vs. outside of rooms,
• Mixing up the elements of light and darkness found in them.

C. What is “inside” of the entire construction is “outside” for the residents of each dwelling unit. In this collective housing there is an “inside” which is quite different from a closed and isolated individual housing unit.

Form of the inner court

"In the middle of the building we made a cylindrical inner court with the height of 15 meters on a space of 7x5.5 m. Building a void at the recessed place from the main street, sky, ground and light are framed."

A path that passes under cherry trees　

The path passing under the cherry tree leads to another world. When passing through the tunnel, you will suddenly find an inner court. The exterior wall is a gate for the cherry tree. The path passing under the cherry tree leads to a back street which again leads to another road. The urban structure of Kyoto is inherited here in this way of land using. Catching a glimpse of the inner court, residents will go into their own unit.

Meaning of the inner court

"In contrast with these methods of expansion, this architecture creates on a narrow path, a structure that suddenly appears and provides a segregated and hidden place. Making a place which is slightly closed to public and hidden from others creates a serene space. In this place, the spirit of people is playing fully. We created such a place in the center of the building."

Photographer: Koichi Torimura