House at Kawachi-Matsubara - fujiwaramuroarchitects

A residence standing on a narrow corner lot in the southern part of Osaka.

The client wished for a music room for his wife, who teaches gospel music, and a place where many friends could gather. Due to strict regulations because of the narrow width of the road, the site area was limited to 47 m2 but we tried to adjust the form as much as possible in configuring the interior.

We put the music room on the first floor and the bathroom is found on the way up to the 2nd floor. The 2nd floor is a skip floor and the dining room contains a large built-in table. The open windows lining the entire circumference of the road-side wall were planned with the idea that houses crowded together form one kind of scenery. Seated at the bench of the dining room table, the sky expands, whereas standing in the living room one can view the houses standing in a row like a landscape. Of the living room, the client exclaimed, “When the children sing songs and such it is as though they are performing on stage.” This was an added bonus of the room. The 3rd floor, in which the bed room and child’s room are positioned, has a ceiling shaped like an attic due to building regulations. Above the child’s room is a small rooftop space, added at the strong request of the client. From the rooftop, one can view the annual fireworks display.

We finished up the exterior with a titanium zinc alloy because we thought the feel of the material matched the geometrical shape of the house. The city of Matsubara has many wire mesh factories. In fact, the factory adjoining the property is run by the client’s parents so we wanted to use wire mesh as well. We created window frames that project outwardly, to which we affixed the wire screen, enabling us to include the raw material in the façade while at the same time functioning as an insect net.

Location: Matubara, Osaka, Japan 
principle use: single family house 
site area: 46.95 m2
 building area: 30.43 m2
 total floor area: 73.50 m2 
structure: steel