A young Japanese architect Kazuya Saito and his namesake practice have recently completed this single-storey house located in Sendai, Japan. Developed for an elderly couple who “requested living in privacy, but a sunny and breezy house while considering connection with the nearby house,” the dark, opaque and windowless exterior of the structure is offset by a neutrally-coloured, light-filled interior.
More about the project:
‘To take appropriate distances from the surroundings, first I decided to put volume at the middle of the site. Instead of no window at outer walls, I took out four spaces as terraces from the volume: the entrance, a side door connecting to main house, a bright wash room, and a garden space softly divides living room and bedroom. Then setting high or small windows in those spaces allows daylight in with good ventilation while keeping privacy. As for the roof, I cut off the slope at the four corner of central volume to adjust to surrounding houses; besides, there is a skylight to release hot air and prompt natural ventilation.’